


Fate and Destiny

by SairekCeareste



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: Game/Manga Spoilers, Gen, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 72,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3787723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SairekCeareste/pseuds/SairekCeareste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-imagining of the "Majora's Mask" plot from start to finish, using the game's setting along with the manga. While the story technically still follows the plot from the game and manga (loosely), it does so using emphasis of my own original plot and development, having situations not out of the universe the story of Majora's Mask is in, but with circumstances not derived from either the manga or game in anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Train me -- my Body; my Mind; my Soul

****

**_I was a protector of men, women and children. I protected them from the greedy wishes that swelled up within mankind. I played with the children and sometimes the adults. I cared for them and treated them all as if they were my newborn kittens.  
...And I devoured those that were plagued and poisoned; the selfish ones. The ones who were greedy, wanting more than their worth. To try and satisfy their hunger and thirst that could never be quenched. _ **

**_But all of them were like that. Every one of them selfish. Soon, even the kittens who I came to protect became full of greed as well. I devoured them all, too._ **

**_Their greed… their wishes… their dreams of power… They are all mine now. I feel their lust. I feel it swirling inside of me. I’ve learned that this is the way of all living beings. There is no other way to save them. I did what had to be done; to consume them in order for me to protect themselves from their own greed. The rumor that if they were to take my hide, that their wishes would come true. What a sham that living beings dilute themselves into believing such false stories in hopes for power. And to think that they, mere mortals, had the right to try and slay me, a god._ **

**_All worlds will only exist like this one. Time unmoving. A world that is dead, yet still alive. Some mortal fool will come and find me again, searching for the rumor that I am, seeking for that greedy power. It is like that for all mortals and will always be until I end the suffering they provide to themselves. I will be found again one day. Then I can complete my judgement. The punishment that shall fall on all living creatures for existing only for themselves._**  
  
**_It is impossible. Not a single mortal creature in this world could be born with the ability to care for anything but their own status. Such, is the way mortal life was created. Creatures that wish to try and alter their own destiny for their choosing, and wish to choose the destinies of others._**

**_One day, I will be free again, and..._ **

**_  
  I shall consume… _ **

**_consume…_ **

**_consume..._ **

**_consume everything…_**  
  
  
  
  
  


"Oh, why hello there~! I am the Happy Mask Salesman. I travel around here and there, selling my masks for the happiness of others!"

 

**"... ... ..."**

 

"...Oh? This mask? I am terribly sorry, but it is not for sale!It is a very special mask indeed. For you see, it is rumored that whoever wears the mask will have their wishes granted...  
"But it is an evil mask! A cursed mask! A cursed mask of the devils! While it does hold great power capable of granting wishes, even as I hold it now, I can feel the evil inside of it… I absolutely cannot sell this!"Oh, I am sorry. I have said far too much. I have said what should not have been said! I apologize for troubling you -- "

 

**"... ... ...!"  
**

 

" _AH!!_? What are you _DOING?!_ Come back you... you **_imp!_**

If you wear that mask, there will be calamity! There will be trouble! Believe it!"

 

 

* * *

 

 

The river water flowed itself gently down stream at a calm rate. The quiet trickles of its movement could be heard by any creatures' ears. Two hands gently cupped into the drink before splashing upon the face of Link, the Hero of Time and Hero of the country known as Hyrule. Link repeated the motion, cupping his hands into the water and then splashing his face for a second time. Reassurance that any dirt that may have remained was gone. It also served the purpose to cool him off from the sun’s assault of constant heat. It was a rather humid summer day out on the edges of the country.

Pushing himself up on to his feet, his hands went up to reposition the brown belt around his waist of his forest green tunic. His hands went up to fix his golden blonde bangs of hair that were exposed from the green hat that trailed down the back of his head just past his neck in a pointed tip. Link walked along the stream for only a couple of seconds before stepping up to his brown horse, Epona, who lapped at the water to cool herself off as well. Epona was not a fully grown horse, much like how her master was only an adolescent child. In essence, the both of them were still young children. Epona continued to lap at the water for a few seconds before she lifted her muzzle out. She licked her lips before softly turning her gaze to the blonde-haired boy in front of her.

"Well, I suppose we should be on our way. Are you ready Epona?" Link asked his steed. "We're arriving at the barracks today and I think they are expecting us to arrive at noon. We're a little bit behind because of last night so let's pick up the pace a little today, okay?"

The equine softly snorted in confirmation, licking her lips one more final time. She seemed to understand the words that Link had spoken to her. She lowered herself down which allowed Link easy access to mount himself on to her saddle. When he had himself seated, Epona rose again. Link scratched her behind the left ear and gave her a soft tap with his foot to her right side, directing her which way to go. With one more soft snort from receiving the command, she instinctively began to walk away from the stream, going towards the trail of travel they had come the night before they decided to stop here for the morning.

Epona was the horse Link received from one of his trusted friends deep in the Hylian country, near the capital city of the country, by a friend named Malon who ran the Lon Lon Ranch with her father. The Hylian boy smiled at memories that were not necessarily so long ago, but to him, it certainly felt like a long time. He remembered meeting her the first time in the capital's market square. Her father had been delivering milk, but had not returned for a while. When Link tried to sneak into the castle in order to speak to Princess Zelda, he had found her father sleeping at the backdoor of the castle. It was an odd turn of events, but they had been close friends ever since.

Link smiled for a little bit longer as Epona responded with a healthy trot on her own accord without Link even issuing any command for her to speed up. The smile soon faded though as he fought back a sigh.

 _"The barracks is near a forest… Maybe someone may have seen her?"_ Link thought to himself hopefully, but he soon shook his head. _"No... who am I kidding... Why would she show herself to some random strangers and not let me see her?_  
"...It’s been over four months now since I left in search for her and I haven’t even found a trace. I’m positive the others back at home miss me, but I’m sure with all the deeds I’m doing now and then, they know that I’m at least well and safe… News seems to somehow travel quickly with all the peace now.  
"I wish it was like that for Navi as well… Is she hearing news of my search for her? Perhaps if I try to leave a big impression on my search, I will maybe get something finally..."

Despite the fact he wanted to arrive at his destination at noon, Epona and Link were still a little bit late. He wasn’t too phased about it though, from such a long distance, arriving right on time was a difficult task for there were several distractions on the road the day before and the day before even that. While peace had been achieved in Hyrule, there were still wild and dangerous creatures that had always roamed around, especially at night. Thankfully though, their numbers had considerably dwindled in the recent months. Sometimes an entire day could go by on the road without any dangerous distractions at all.  
  
As they arrived at the gate to the barracks, Link slid off of Epona and walked her to a nearby tree and instructed her to wait there for him. He moved forwards towards the structure that lay before him that looked similar to that of a castle on the exception it was far too small to actually really be one, but the look of it was certainly similar to one. There were rather large and impressive gates in front of him and he was sure a watchman would have seen him to inform the people inside that he was coming. Nonetheless, just in case, he pounded on the enormous gates hard with his left fist and waited patiently for them to open. Despite how hard he knocked, it felt insufficient at the presence of such a large gate and he wondered if knocking on such a thing as if it was a door would have any merit. He was preparing himself to knock again when the doors creaked and were pried open by a rather tall yet scrawny butter blonde-haired man. The tall figure looked left and then to right. A confused expression was soon worn on his face.

"I don’t see ‘im… You sure he’s here?"

Link hesitated for a minute. Was he too short for the man to actually be seen...? Link cleared his throat, trying to catch the man's attention. He still didn't seem to take notice. So Link spoke out instead as he looked up to the man. "Um… down here. Look down, please."  
By now several other people had gathered behind the man at the door. They all looked down at once hearing Link's words and soon stared at the rather handsome boy who didn't even reach a higher height than most of their waists. As the others looked down at him, Link let out a warm friendly smile in greeting. He stood straight and proudly at the men who were supposed to be expecting his presence today.  
  
Link had been sent by a clan known as the Tarubari clan. This barracks here was part of the clan, which was formed together as a group of soldiers that more or less freelanced without following under the King's direct orders. The clan had been put together to help maintain the peace of Hyrule after the incident with Ganondorf leading a Gerudo army along with monsters to attack the Hyrule capital, the same place where Link had met Malon. Ganondorf had attacked only after Link had collected the three spiritual stones which he needed as keys to unlock the door inside the Temple of Time, which there in it, held the Master Sword. The blade of evil's bane.  
  
That night had been a horrific night. He never would have guessed that the night would lead to the events to him unlocking the door inside of the temple to obtain the Master Sword, which made his spirit rest for seven years because he was too young to wield the weapon. That night, The King; Princess Zelda's father unfortunately was killed by Ganondorfs' hands. The Tarubari clan was formed a couple months after Link and Princess Zelda with the other six sages had successfully sealed Ganondorf where he would hopefully cause no more harm inside of the Sacred Realm in the time he was sealed in, from which Link had returned from. Hyrule did not need another tyrant like Ganondorf or one of the races that inhabited Hyrule to decide to go hostile all of a sudden. The guild was to keep everyone in check and keep an eye out of potential threats; and eliminate any that could cause yet another war.  
  
Link had visited the clan more due to Princess Zelda's request before he had left on his journey in search for his forest fairy friend, Navi. She suggested to him to go to the clan for three reasons. The first reason is that she was very confident in Link's swordsmanship and she was sure he would be able to teach some of the novices in the guild a few good pointers which would help the overall defense of Hyrule, if even slightly -- She had been quite right about that. The guild was so impressed that they requested if he was up to it, to go to barracks that they had stationed here and there and do the same thing; teach the squires in training. And that was why he was at this one.  
  
The second reason was simply to make sure that everything with the clan was going according to plan and that there were no sort of troubles arising anywhere. In other words, to make sure all the outposts they had created were doing their jobs properly.  
  
The third and final reason was that Zelda had suggested he visit them so he could get potential information on Navi. Since the guild was scattered throughout the land, he could get word if anyone had seen Navi's whereabouts -- or rather specifically, any forests with Forest fairies living in any nearby areas. Fairies were very hard to spot which was somehow irony in itself since fairies were small but rather visible bright glowing balls of light with faintly visible wings. They were usually seen when they would want to be seen though and generally hid themselves quite well, most likely due to the fact they could sense life forces, or so it seemed. It wouldn't be too difficult for Link to wander in a forest where fairies live and not know it when they could be swarming with them. Aside from that, Link couldn't just search every forest he saw. He needed some sort of lead. Not every fairy was similar, as being balls of light they usually had a different color to them. Some faintly yellow, some faintly green, red, pink, purple, or as he was looking for: blue.  
  
After Link had taught some of the rookies at his first clan visit, they had promised to help spread the word of their search to the best of their ability. The information between visiting clans had been good for helping pick out forests with fairies living in them; but he had never heard of a sighting of a fairy that was even Navi's color. He too, never saw a bright blue fairy yet himself.  
  
After various clan visits, here he was at this particular barracks. And to no surprise to him by now, most of the men were gawking at him. He did find it a bit odd how they did that, but the Tarubari clan helped his surprising appearance by sending out letters to the guild zones he visited, so he wouldn't be scoffed at and most likely rejected simply because he was a child.

"What...? Who’re you?" The tall man at the front of the gate spoke to Link whist giving him a bit of a suspicious look. Link imagined he was a man who he guess liked to come over as smug, perhaps more overconfident than he should be. However, despite his green eyes staring at him, Link didn't falter his smile one little bit.

"My name is Link. The Tarubari clan should have sent a letter to Captain Orselon of my arrival, suggesting me arriving here about training--

Link was rudely interrupted as the group gathered at the door had begun to laugh all of a sudden. It didn't take him long to know that they were actually laughing at _him_. The glare he gave that showed he was annoyed and not impressed with the rudeness did not help, of course. It only made the men laugh louder.

 

“A kid? Really?”

“I don’t think 'Link' would like himself being impersonated by a brat like this. Look at how weirdly he's dressed.”

“Maybe Link got scared, sent this kid in his place and ran away with his tail between his legs!”  
  
  
Link's eyebrows strained together tightly downward. He managed however to keep his frustration in check so his face didn't turn flush with color due to his annoyance. Through the men laughing at him, he raised his voice. "That’s enough! I'm not going to stand here and be insulted--!"

However, despite his attempt to stick up for himself, they were still too busy laughing and mocking him to pay too much attention. Link had no choice to wait for a couple minutes more as they outright humiliated him before their ramblings calmed down enough.

"...I’m amazed. I would never be able to laugh at bullying a child like this… Are you people supposed to be _men?_ Grown, mature adults?" Link criticized them. "One of the groups who are supposed to help protect Hyrule in the case that something terrible does happen again? And the citizens of Hyrule will only have to rely on bullies for their protection?  
"I was requested by the Tarubari clan to train you squires in your combat abilities; _not_ to babysit and teach you disciplinary basics..."

There was light murmuring. The men didn’t take Link's words lightly as others muttered about forcibly throwing 'the kid' out. The one who opened the door for Link however was one who really didn’t take the comment well.

"Listen here, _brat._ Link is renowned **_hero_** and he certainly isn’t some short smart-assed pipsqueak who somehow managed to stumble his way to our door!" He threatened as he leaned closer towards Link. An attempt to intimidate him. "If you’re going to say that you’re Link, show me proof. Got it? Proof. I want _proof_ that you are the one who saved _all_ of our hides! You got about ten seconds, before I forcibly turn you around and shove my right foot into your ass!"

By the time the man finished threatening Link in a raised voice, he had become so close to his face that Link could smell the man’s breath. Link took a step back to recover his sphere of personal space and let out a long sigh. He really didn't want to use the _that_ item again. ...Though, as he quickly considered his options, he felt like he had no other choice; he was sure the man wasn't bluffing, even though he wasn't intimidated by the threat. He doubted that they all felt like bringing the captain out so that he could prove himself to them otherwise...

"...Fine. Alright, you want proof?"

The men looked confused as Link closed his eyes and began digging inside of his tunic. Link’s hand slowly pulled back out a moment later. He nervously gulped in air as he reluctantly pulled out a blue object. His eyes were still closed as he held the object with both hands, before slowly unfolding them to reveal it. It was nothing other than the Ocarina of Time which Princess Zelda had entrusted on to him for safe keeping before he had left. She believed it would be safer with him despite his traveling. She also believed it would "help keep him safe" as she put it, somehow.

Now here he was, more or less abusing the sacredness of the item just to satisfy these men. He felt guilt at the action swell up inside him but he hid it in his closed eyes. He heard gasps and murmurs. The Ocarina of Time was one of the signs of relationship to the Royal Family and the only way to get it was to have it given to you by Princess Zelda herself -- which is exactly what more or less had happened. And of course, who was the only real person who touched the item that was outside of the castle? That would only be Link; it was surely the perfect evidence to show his connection with the Royal Family.

"L...Let me see that..." The man let out, reaching outwards for the legendary instrument. Link’s eyes shot open, alert. He enclosed his hands around the instrument and pulled it back immediately. He shot as much of a menacing glare as he could towards the man.

"Most certainly _not!_ Like hell I’m going to let _you_ touch it!" Link spat. "Not after you were rude and mocked me for simply being young and _certainly_ not after you had just threatened me!"

"Well, it can’t be helped then." The man said, his tone suddenly nonchalant as he waved a hand at the boy dismissively before cross both of his arms. "It’s obviously just a replica and not the real thing. Why else would you not let us see it if it was real? You should have nothing to fear! I’ve seen so many replicas of many different items. You can't be too careful anymore."

Link blinked his eyes a few times in response at such... faulty reasoning.

"W _...What!?_ " Link suddenly cried out. "If it's anything I fear it's _you_ mistreating it as you've mistreated me! _That's_ what I fear! Who in the right mind would just hand over such a sacred item for inspection to the likes of you? That's nonsense! Bring your captain out here and he will be more than likely to..."

Link's voice trailed off as he listened to the crowd of soldiers behind the man, agreeing that it could indeed be replica or a cheap fake simply because Link wouldn't hand the item over. Link couldn’t believe this. Even the Ocarina of Time couldn’t satisfy the doubt of these men; and that was the perfect evidence of who he was! Link glared back at the tall man, the words that left his mouth came out as an annoyed snarl quiet enough that only he could hear it.  
  
"You’re just making up these excuses as we go along, aren’t you? Just what is it that you have against me?"

The man shrugged while failing to hide the smug smirk he wore on his face from Link, but hid it from the other men that were behind him and couldn't see his face. As he spoke to Link, he too kept his voice low from the other men who were too busy by now discussing among themselves as he leaned forwards. "Who knows? It _might_ be a fake y’know. All I need to do is see it. All fakes usually have obvious flaws in them…" He said. Link watched as the man's green eyes looked him over. "Kind of like you..." The man finished in a murmur that Link just barely picked up.

"Oh?… And just what sort of 'flaws' do you mean, exactly?" Link said through a heated tone as he clenched his teeth.

"The shape may be slightly wrong… or the color could be a slightly different shade. Or it could--"

Without warning the mans' hands snapped forwards and snatched the Ocarina away from Link who wasn't holding the instrument tight enough to prevent the grab. Link gasped in alert and then cried out in panic, rushing forwards to try and snatch the item back. Link may had been an excellent swordsman, but he couldn't win the battle of height as the man simply held his hand against Link’s head to keep him away in distance as the Hylian boy desperately flailed his arms to try and snatch it back. His arms didn't even come close to the distance, unfortunately. The man examined the ocarina up and down from a distance up above his head, ignoring Link's frantic and desperate cries to give the instrument back.

"Hmm… Looks pretty real to me." The man said in a mock observational tone. "It could only feel different though and just _looks_ real... but I never touched the real one before so I can't tell based on that. I never played an Ocarina before so I can't test the sound... Oh! I guess there’s always one way to find out to be sure."  
  
Some of the men were laughing at Link's dismay, watching his frantic struggling to get the Ocarina back. Link noticed the man hold the Ocarina out and up high and the man soon grinned... It felt like a lightning bolt went through Link's body as realization gripped him.

"You can’t mean… you’re going to drop it to see if it’s durable enough!? Replica or not, no ocarina can survive a fall on the ground like that!"

"Why not? If it’s the Ocarina of Time, they should have made it extremely durable, right?"

"You...! Don't be an idiot!" Link hissed. "The Ocarina of Time isn't meant to withstand abuse! It wasn't designed to have people like you drop it from eight feet onto solid concrete just to 'test' if it's real!"

"Then why is a brat like carrying such a sacred item around?! _Huh?!_ Wouldn't such a sacred item if it were real still be locked up nice and tight in Hyrule castle?!" The man argued.

"W-Well that's because I..." Link began, trying to think up a reason quickly. As much as he wanted to say ' _I was given it from Princess Zelda'_ because that was entirely the truth, he very much doubted that would fly was a good reason to satisfy him.

"Here... let me see that ocarina for a moment."

The tall man abruptly stood erect and was at immediate attention as was everyone else when the new voice spoke. Link was alert as well. The tall man turned around as everyone stepped aside for the new arrival who was coming through. He held out the Ocarina to the man who had appeared. This man walked up, took the Ocarina and without even examining it for more than a quick glance, walked past the rude one towards Link and held it out for him to take. Link soon recognized the man for who he was...

"C...Captain Orselon...?" Link stammered out.

"Welcome Link." The captain greeted him with far more kindness than any other person so far has given him today. "Under normal circumstances, I would ask if my men haven’t been any trouble to you…" He began as he slowly turned himself back towards the gate at all of his men, who visibly stiffened nervously. "...but I think I know the unfortunate answer to that." He finished as he turned back towards Link. "My apologies that my men have given you such a troublesome welcome, as you are our guest tonight and are fulfilling a great favor for me as well as the entire Tarubari clan as a whole."  
  
Captain Orselon was, more or less, the owner of this barracks. Before things went bad with Ganondorf, he had years ago served as one of the body guards for Princess Zelda as well when she was a baby and up to when she was a toddler in teamwork with Impa, Zelda's current guardian. When Link was staying at the Tariburi clan's headquarters, Link had been delighted that they had asked him to help give "a few pointers" to the soldiers here under Orselon's command after hearing he had helped protect Princess Zelda. Somebody who had such a position would surely be a great person and deserved respect for the service he had done for Hyrule. Link had been excited to meet him. Now, Link despite him being a hero of Hyrule; the Hero of Time in fact, felt he had just been rescued himself.Who knows what could have happened to the Ocarina of Time had he shown up any later than now?  
  
Link took the Ocarina into his hands and nodded his thanks. He then looked behind himself to Epona. The mammal had been watching the situation the entire time. Link was thankful he decided to keep her at a distance. Link motioned with a finger gesture for her to come closer without speaking or needing to go towards her. The young horse saw the signal and walked her way forwards. Epona was usually shy with strangers, but her seeing the tall man's actions compared to Orselon, her judgement of the two was already clear. Orselon eyed Epona only briefly before turning back to the rude man.

"Bisenette!" Captain Orselon barked at the rude, tall blonde man who had been the primary source of insulting Link so far.

"Y-Yes Captain!"

"I will be giving Link a tour of the barracks and then the training sessions with him will begin soon afterwards." Orselon began. His voice firm, authoritative. "You will be attending it, but after the training session is over you will go the stables and clean up there. From that, we will discuss a suitable punishment for you after nearly breaking one of Hyrule’s most sacred treasures and harassing someone who is an important member of the Royal Family. Are my orders clear?"

"Y...Yes captain..." Bisenette shouted, although there was a clear tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Good! Right then, off we go, Link." Orselon directed him, saying the last few words in such a casual way as if he simply issued a common order. Link of course could tell the disappointment Orselon had for his soldier though. The captain gestured for Link to follow him, which he did while herding Epona forward. He gave an angry glare at Bisenette as he passed by, who in turn gave him a scowl back as if his punishment was somehow Link's fault. Link wasn’t impressed, but he walked on without saying anything lest another argument spew, and he had enough of the man already. He heard Epona let out a snort of disgust as she passed him as well. It forced Link to smile a little bit as he had to hold back a sly smirk. Even his horse looked out for him and shared the same opinion on the man. After they were some distance away from Bisenette and the rest of the men, Link spoke up. "So... how are you going to punish him, exactly?"

Orselon stopped walking for a moment, as Link stepped beside him staring up at the broad man in curiosity with his hands still holding onto Epona's reigns. She had stopped next to Link and brushed her head against his shoulder, nuzzling him for his own comfort rather than her own. Link rewarded her with a quick scratch behind her right ear. She let out a quiet whinny in gratitude at the gesture.

"I will make him do several chores for the rest of the month. The real question is how are _you_ going to punish him?" The captain asked.

Link furrowed his golden brows for a second. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Well, he is participating in the gladiator matches against you, right? I’m sure you feel quite a bit of hatred towards him and you will be getting to battle him. That's the main reason I even allowed him to participate. Bisenette’s main flaw is that he is far too prideful. He thinks far too highly of himself and then that goes for him thinking too low of others as well. He now knows you are indeed Link, but I don't doubt he still thinks he is better than you in every single aspect as a human being. If anything, right now he is most likely thinking you are just a lucky little snob and a brat. He will probably try to show you up, so perhaps you should teach him a little manners, hmm?"

Link soon smirked. He got what Orselon meant. The boy held the Ocarina up with one hand, tucking Epona's reigns under his arm for a moment. He pulled out a special padded case and opened it with a hard push with the index of his thumb. Zelda provided him this for the Ocarina just in case, so it would be difficult for the sacred instrument to be damaged. After all, fighting battles was now technically his profession. And, rain or shine, he still continued to search for Navi everyday. Once the instrument was inside, Link closed the case with a quick snap and put it back inside his tunic as well before retrieving Epona's reigns again. Orselon saw this and raised a curious eyebrow at him.

"You don’t plan to fight with the ocarina in your possession do you? We could always just lock it up safely in my office so it doesn’t risk being damaged." The man offered.

"It will be alright. It wouldn’t be the first time I had to fight with it on me after all. The case has proven to be more than durable enough. A bomb going off wouldn't even to harm the Ocarina inside of it, let alone good honest skirmishing." Link said, although he had second thoughts about the 'honest' part in the case of dueling Bisenette... "Err... besides, I feel more comfortable having it on me. It's like a good luck charm. After having it with me for several months, it feels odd to not have it in my possession." Link finished.  
  
  
"Hmm..." Orselon mused. "Well, if you say so. I’m more than confident that you know what you’re doing. Alright then, enough idle banter, let’s get your horse stabled up and show you around so that way we can get to the fun part of your visit, eh?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

“ _DAMMIT!!!_ ”

Link slowly pulled himself out of his battle stance as he looked at the ground where Bisenette lay defeated. Although not too much effort was needed to defeat him. Why? Bisenette’s sword had shattered within ten seconds of the battle when Link blocked a swing from Bisenette with his shield. He had been panicked for a moment when he heard the shatter -- it could have been terrifying that a piece of dislodged blade could have been flying in any direction and had the chance to strike a random individual -- if not for himself. But Link had quickly been relieved when the broken tip of the blade just stuck into the ground harmlessly a couple feet away. Bisenette fought with a two-handed style. Such a large blade firing like a sharp-shooters' arrow was a scary thought.

"Grr… Useless sword… I could easily beat you if my sword didn’t shatter so easily every time I fought somebody…" Bisenette scowled.

Link rolled his eyes. It was not the inanimate sword's fault it wasn't tempered properly. Orselon spoke as if on queue. "Bisennete...! I tell you again and again, you need to repair your sword and properly reinforce it! The sword cannot protect you if you can’t even manage your own equipment properly!" The man sighed, covering his face with his hand as he shook his head. "Grab another one for now, but you’re not keeping this sword. You’ve broken too many of them as it is!"

Bisenette scowled -- again; but he walked over to a weapons rack nearby and pulled out another sword. He tested a few looking for the one that felt right for him, which took a few moments before he eventually made his selection and walked back over to Link who stood idle with his sword in his left hand, shield in his right. Bisenette preferred the rather offensive two-handed style compared to Link’s sword for offense and shield for defense. And while Bisenette was wearing padded armor, Link had none. None would fit his size of course, but Link reassured everyone that he would be fine. Still, Orselon felt that the only way they could practice with Link was for everyone including Link, to attack with the flat ends of their blades.  
  
The way to “win” these fights were to pin, or knock an opponent down. Striking them with a lethal weapon would also grant a point if they failed to block the attack in any way and the strike made direct contact. The one who got the first to five points was victorious. There was a fifteen minute time limit in case the fights were not going anywhere fast. The one with the most points if it came to a time up would be the victor. If both had the same points, it would come to a draw. A ring out was an automatic forfeit of the fight. The one final rule was that no lethal attacks with a weapon were to be attempted at the head. It was just too risky for sparring.  
  
A loud and sharp whistle blew and Bisenette was immediately on the attack, charging at Link, who stood his ground sword poised and shield held out in front. Bisenette did a wide swing from his right side swinging towards his left. Link could easily see the attack coming just from the amateurish way the man did the attack, taking extremely wide long sweeps with his sword such as he was doing, the attack was predictable and rather slow as far as being in combat was concerned -- even if they were powerful swings. Bisenette was using the flat side of the sword as he should, but the man was treating the sword more like a club.  
  
Link fixed the weight of his body onto his feet and when the sword approached, he quickly darted to duck under the swing and then sidestep around Bisenette. When Bisenette’s balance was off from his own attack, Link raised his boot and placed it firmly on Bisentte’s lower back. He grinned giddily as he pushed forwards with most of his might and a small grunt exerting out of him from the effort of the kick. The counterattack caused the man to lose balance on his feet and fall forwards, face down. One point for Link within the first ten seconds of the battle.

"Grr… Stop cheating brat…!"

Link looked at the man with wide eyes with an expression of surprise at the accusation, before narrowing them in an angry glare. "Cheating? You're joking right? You think I am _cheating?_ I used my _foot_ of all things!" He said in disbelief. He was truly beginning to detest this man... Link moved the position of his body so his left arm with his sword was in front, while his shield on his right was behind him, a more aggressive stance. "Stop quibbling, stop complaining and stop trying to rationalize your mistakes! Get up and fight me like the adult you are!" He lectured as he moved his sword to point at himself.

"Do you think the enemy will care if they are 'cheating' or not in a real battle? There are no rules in a real fight; anything goes. If this is how you plan to fight as a real soldier for Hyrule, then you put everyone you are supposed to be protecting in at great risk with your ignorance, let alone your very own life! If you understand that much, then stand up and show it to me!"

Bisenette quickly stood himself up grabbing his sword as Link ordered him. Link could see that the frustration of losing was affecting his combat abilities… Bisenette was getting more aggressive than he had been before; saying that wasn't explaining much considering there hadn't even really been much of a battle yet, but with the frustration growing on the man, he was getting more reckless. After blocking three blows with his shield which scraped across the metallic surface. Link was able to predict the next swing and blocked the flow of Bisenette's furious attack by holding his shield up to block the attack directly which the contact caused a massive recoil to Bisenette. He let out a cry of pain as his bones ached from the sudden contact, leaving him wide open for when Link. The young Hylian jumped up, body checking the man by using his shield to cover more area to make contact with as well with using great strength for his size. Link was knocking Bisenette off balance again but not enough to make him fall a second time. Link reared his shield back once more to finish the job, smashing his shield into Bisenette’s body by "punching" with the it via aiming for his torso. Link's blow had more than enough momentum to move Bisenette off of his stance and even make him airborne. The squire went flying a couple of feet away and fell hard onto his back with a breathless grunt. Dirt and dust rose around him as he did a small skid before slowing to a stop. Link pulled his shield back, back into his battle stance as he had been in before Bisenette received his new sword.  
  
Once again, another point acquired for Link.  
  
Bisenette scowled at being beaten so easily. Quickly getting up again, he waited for Link to make the first move this time. Link stood there for several seconds, studying the other man's stance. He grinned, tapping his right boot into the dirt, and then suddenly charged towards Bisennete. Link had no problem going on the offensive this time. He swung his Kokiri sword down with great agility, throwing quick and fast slashes to force Bisenette to parry with his sword using the flat side of the blade. The slashes themselves barely held any strength. It required less energy to swing that way and the vibration of recoil with each clash that was done wasn’t too much for Link's grip, which meant less time for him to recover, which meant more quick swings for Bisenette to have to parry. When the man began to grow tired using such a heavy weapon as a shield, especially since Link was barely using any strength with these quick attacks the child was using to harass the man with, Link quickly faked a slash upwards, before dropping down on to the ground, with his hands planted into the dirt that made up the battleground. Bisenette moved, fooled by the fake-out. Link let out a loud grunt out in effort as he moved his right leg with his left tucked in, kicking his right leg across in a violently fast sweep that swept up a large cloud of dirt as he aimed at Bisenette's own legs, attempting to score yet another point by tripping the man.  
  
Link was genuinely surprised, yet at the same time it came as a delight to him -- that Bisenette actually jumped over his leg and Link's body slid in a terrible position to defend himself because of how much force he did the kick with; he had done a complete one-eighty degree spin. Perhaps this wouldn't be a complete simple rollover against the man after all...?  
  
When Bisenette landed back down, he began to slash his giant weapon down on to Link. Link quickly bounded in a leap and rolled himself forwards and away from Bisenette. The distance he realized mid-roll however would not be enough to get away from the weapon in time. While still airborne, he twisted his body around as he landed on his back and held his shield out up in the air in front of him, which would intercept the more tip-end of the blade with his shield. When he heard and felt the clash, he immediately pushed forwards with his shield to deflect the heavy blade back. Although it rocked the bones in his arm from the force and vibration of the two metals clashing each other. The forward push forced Bisenette’s weapon aside and the man could barely hold on to his sword temporarily from the intense vibrations that rattled the bones in his arms due to the forced recoil Link had given him by pushing his shield outwards. This allowed Link free reign to get back up, as the child rolled sideways and then hoisted his feet to be planted onto the ground. He pushed his hands against the ground and jumped onto his feet again.  
  
Bisenette went on the aggressive one more time, although he made quicker slashes that were weaker, as if trying to copy what Link had done just a moment ago; trying to throw as many attacks as he could until Link was too worn down to block the next attack, or made a mistake to leave him open. Link blocked a couple of them with relative ease. However, he was soon able to predict where the next slash was coming from. He stepped back, the slash missing him, he soon let out a furious yell right after the slash missed and passed by his form. He stepped forwards with all his might, his shield in front of him, he rushed right into Bisenette with all his strength to bash his shield and body towards him to give the shield as much momentum as possible. This broke Bisenette’s guard even when he attempted to block the shield with his giant sword to cushion the charge. The mistake of that was everywhere else was wide open to attack from Link’s Kokiri sword. And Link simply raised his left hand and whacked Bisenette in the ribs of the padded armor with the flat side of his sword. Link obtained his third point and quickly leaped backwards twice to disengage with the other man. Bisenette looked absolutely pissed, soon pointing an accusing finger at Link as he shouted angrily. "What the hell?! You use that shield more as a weapon then an actual shield! Use it for its intended purpose!"

Link briefly glanced to his right at his shield, then at Bisenette and shrugged. "The shield isn’t made for defense, Bisenette. That's what armor is for. A shield is made for utility; so I am using it for its intended purpose: Blocking you, and then counterattacking." A wide grin soon formed on Link's face, as he tapped his left foot against the ground a few times, followed by his right. "Besides... if you think swinging blindly with a giant sword is going to beat _the_ Hero of Hyule, then you’re really naive, _heheheh!_ "

"Laughing at me, huh!?" Bisenette seethed. Link knew that laugh was what would set him off to go aggressive. For the third time, Bisenette stood himself up off of the ground and readied his two-handed sword. Link decided to try and keep pressuring the man with his more psychological attack and decided to keep taunting him, seeing it having the desired effect of angering him further. "Look at who is being bullied now! If you treated me with manners at the gate, I wouldn’t be making this so embarrassing for you in front of the entire barracks. Who knows? I might have even let you get a point or two, Bisenette; just to make you not look so bad~!" Link taunted in a tone meant to be nothing but mockery.

Bisenette yelled out in rage. Link had to applaud him for one thing, despite lugging the big weapon around, he rarely showed any fatigue he had accumilated once angered. Almost renewed with a new kind of strength, Bisenette swung more madly at Link; the blows harder and each strike was faster in succession.  
  
Link stepped back to avoid most of the slashes as they were too powerful to block with his shield, lest his guard be broken from an attack and render him completely vulnerable. Doing so would only cause him to stagger and leave him open for the next attack or even worse, completely knock him off of his feet. Of course, the space in the arena was not limitless as well. Link eventually reached the edge of the arena. While the edge was nothing more then a simple white round line, Link didn’t want to forfeit the match by crossing it. When Bisenette tried to force him out with one final swing, Link was forced to dive to the side of Bisenette, following along with the sword swipe, which just missed his back as he landed on the ground on his stomach. The collision of his stomach against the ground winded him slightly but he didn’t let it hinder him as he quickly rolled back on his feet. He heard Bisenette yell and looked behind him to see him charging at him again. Link quickly held his shield up as the man collided into him, Link grit his teeth together in effort to stay on his feet as the collision caused him to skid from the force. After they skidded to a stop, Bisenette pushed forwards and down with all of his might, causing Link to have to struggle back.  
  
Link knew in a one on one fight with a larger man would cause him to lose due to their difference in strength. However, Bisenette didn’t plan that. Since Bisenette was much taller, Link had to force his shield to face upwards, leaving his stomach and below open. Link was helpless, as he let out a breathless grunt followed by a gasp for air in reaction to the intense pain from having Bisenette’s right knee driving itself right into his gut which tossed him upwards slightly just from the force of the blow by itself.

"Unnfff...!"

Link lost all strength in the struggle and disconnected his shield from Bisenette unwillingly as he instinctively went to clutch his stomach with both arms, his mouth wide open as he struggled for air. He didn't even have time to let out a choked cough from the attack because Bisenette grabbed the collar of his forest green tunic as if he weighed next to nothing. The angered man tossed the child up, before giving him a swift and powerful kick like Link had done to him before when he scored his first point. Such a power kick was aimed Link's chest. Compared to Link's kick though, Bisenette's was much more powerful and Link himself was far more lighter in weight. The boy went flying several feet towards the center of the arena, only to have crashed his back into the ground which sent him rolling in a sprawled fashion painfully and violently along the ground with no sign of slowing down.  
  
After several grunts from colliding into the ground, Link mustered up the willpower to take control of his body through quickly deepening pain that was layering itself all over, as if the pain in his gut currently wasn't enough as it was. He lifted his sword up after a dozen or so rotations and stabbed the weapon into the ground to stop his sprawled rolls so that he would skid to a stop; the sword left a shaky, jagged and long line in the dirt before he finally slowed to a stop. Link ended up being face down onto the ground. His vision blurry along with his hearing sounding muffled for a moment as he gasped to suck in air from the blow his stomach took and the constant battering against rolling on the ground. He was still able to recognize the loud cheers of the soldiers in the barracks from how the fight was beginning to heat up despite his senses being dizzy.

"D...Damn..." Link cursed weakly and positioned his shield upwards as he used his right elbow to slowly push himself against the ground and hoist himself up out of the arena dirt. Still gasping heavily from the blow that had winded him causing him to be light headed, he managed to get up to one knee, his sword stabbed into the ground still, balancing him up as he couldn't even sit up straight without its support. Spitting out saliva he hadn't been able to swallow properly due to his wind being taken from him. Mixed with the saliva, Link could make out that it was tinted a bit red. Blood. Link managed to lift his swimming head back up, glaring at his opponent angrily, in near disbelief.

 

One point for Bisenette.

 

 _"Alright, alright… making him mad maaaybe wasn’t the best idea I've ever had…"_ Link thought to himself as he struggled to push himself up, but the pain in his stomach made him clutch it with his right arm and nearly double over, causing him to let out a weak wheeze. _"_ Ugghh... _He’s not tired at all because I’ve just been toying with him and making him fall over…  I haven't actually done anything to really wear him down other than just making him block a lot and play mind games. I haven't actually damaged him in any way other than just pushing him off his feet and his pride... Now I’m getting exhausted and he isn’t. I better try to not let it show though or he may start getting some ideas... Unngh... damn stomach blows... the knee was bad enough... the hell kind of kick was that anyways...?"_ He thought distastefully.  
  
"Wh...Whatever.. _._ " He grunted to himself in a whispered hush. He began to regain his composure as he fought the pain with willpower alone. A skill that saved him in many battles that were going unfavorably before. He glanced to his side to look how far he had tumbled across the arena and nearly choked when he saw he was merely a few feet from having rolled from one side of the circle to the other and thrown out of bounds. That simple, bland looking white line was doom for him if so much as a part of his body escaped it.

 _"He is probably so over-enjoyed he scored one single point it's going to make him over-confident. He's boasting with pride right now, I'm sure... I'll make sure to leave a dent in that pride that's going to be hard to fix...!_ "

Link pushed himself up, refusing the urge to clutch his gut, as he tried to control his breathing to negate any signs of weakness, although he faltered briefly as he somewhat stumbled. His eyes glanced over to Bisenette who was more or less gloating at scoring one point against the Hero of Time. Link soon was standing up on to his feet, although the process was a little slow. he stood confidently. He strapped his shield onto his back and gripped the Kokiri sword with two hands. Several squires watching murmured at what Link was doing. A change of style was in order to throw Bisenette off, a bait to make him go more on the aggressive. After all, how could his small sword compare in a head on battle against Bisenette's Two-Handed sword?

"Not bad…" Link panted out through heavier breathing. "You used your taller size to your advantage against my smaller size... just like I have been doing against you... However, I rarely fall for the same tricks twice..." Link growled. His spread his legs slightly further apart, letting his boots slide in the dirt just an inch or two, as he reinforced the grip on his Kokiri sword, holding it tight enough that his knuckles brightened several shades to be nearly completely white. "...Can you actually impress me this time, Bisenette...?"

Bisenette looked at Link confused, but the man soon scowled. The boy was mocking him _again!_ Just after he sent him flying, too! He began to charge once more. Link slowly took a few steps back; edging even closer to the white line. He bent his knees just an inch or two as he readied his weight, preparing his feet to dodge. When Bisenette got close, he went to swing at Link while using his sprinting speed for momentum in an under sweeping motion. Link quickly dived out of the way to his right, moving along the sword swing. Bisenette stopped his run and skidded on the ground a little to face the boy preparing to charge again, yet curiously he froze, staring at the swordsman, who was now sheathing his sword into the scabbard on his back. Link then crossed his arms over his torso and looked towards Bisenette. He now had a smirk on his face.

"What are you doing?! Pull out your weapon and fight! ...Or did you surrender? Hahah! That's it, isn't it?! You surrendered!!"

"Heheh..." Link chuckled. "There’s no reason to keep my sword out when I've won, Bisenette."

Link uncrossed his arms while he continued to wear his big grin, Bisenette couldn’t figure it out, so Link pointed at the ground at the white ring near Bisenette's feet.

"I win by default, because you have just rung yourself out. The rules that were stated was that a ring out would be an automatic win, remember? You were basically so enraged, that you willingly ran off a cliff and fell to your doom~"

Bisenette slowly blinked as he stared at Link and then looked at the ground, only now he began noticing he had stepped out of the white line that described the area for the battle. It took him a moment, then the realization hit him like a wall.

 

" _W-W-W-W- **WHAAAAAT!?**_ "

 

Link chuckled slightly again at Bisenette’s reaction, the man soon beginning to mutter things, or it would be muttering if such words were not quite audible as they already were. Link didn’t pay attention to his bantering though. Instead, he stepped out of the battlefield and sat himself on a nearby empty wooden bench and let out a quiet pained groan. That blow to the stomach still ached, but on the bright side, it wasn’t hindering his breathing as much now. He did feel bruised all over though from that painful rolling on the ground however. Bisenette had a good kick, admittedly. The way he had preformed it too... it was impressive... well, a little... It was not exactly how he wanted the battle to end, admittedly. But entertainment was not his goal. His goal was to teach, and the man needed to learn some humility to soften that narcissistic attitude of his.  
  
Link blinked in surprise when a hand went in front of his face holding a flask in front of him. He looked up to see it was Orselon who was grinning at him.

"Well, you certainly seem to be holding up just fine."

Link took the flask from the man's hand, murmuring a thank you before he began to gulp down greedily. The entire travel today had left him quite dehydrated, not that he didn't have water of his own, but the fight was no exception, especially when it came to the summertime heat. Orselon sat down beside Link and the child felt the hilt of his sword brush against his cheek as he turned his head to look to the captain.

"Err... Not really." Link admitted to the man's previous assumption. "I could have handled the knee-to-the-gut thing. That kick though...  that kick _hurt!_ " Link whined. "Especially with the whole rolling on the ground...!" He hissed as a look of displeasure formed on his face. "I'm in pain all over. I just acted all tough so I could ring him out like that. He deserved it after he started gloating instead of pressing his advantage."

The captain quirked an eyebrow at Link at his rather... strange outburst. Link smirked wryly at him. "I'll be fine." He reassured seriously. "His kick was quite good though."

"Well, he has practiced unarmed combat..." The man said evenly. "Maybe instead of training him with the sword, I should have him take on some kind of martial-arts. Would save me a lot of swords."

"Like Teakwondo?" Link teased.

Captain Orselon let out a hearty laugh as he listened to the boy. "Well, you at least certainly have that rumored arm." He said, giving Link a firm pat on the back that he felt even with his shield in the way.

"Rumors?" Link asked feigning curiosity. "What rumors?" He had a feeling he already knew. He just liked hearing about himself. Also, it made him appear modest. That was important too.

"Well, nothing other than the fact you are really skilled. Especially for your age. I'm surprised you managed to not lose your temper and remain calm in the fight against someone like Bisenette."

Link’s face blushed a little and he rubbed the back of his head at the praise the captain was giving him. He heard such things many times, especially with the Tarubari clan each time he visited a place of their guild, but even though he liked hearing how impressive he was, that didn't mean he ever really got used to hearing such compliments. Everyone usually treated him like that when they saw him fight. But some didn’t believe he was indeed Link in the first place, except after they saw him fight unless he had shown the Ocarina beforehand. Until then, he got treated much like how Bisenette treated him; although he was by far the rudest so far of those he has met since his journey, as lonely as it has mostly been. Nobody had ever snatched the Ocarina of Time from him like that before; let alone threatened to break it. Link always felt guilty about using the Ocarina in that manner every time. After that incident, Link felt he would have to be either more careful when showing the Ocarina for proof of his relation to the Royal Family, if he had to use it again, or consider some other option to show evidence of who he was. He couldn't afford the Ocarina to be mistreated like that again.

"Well... he's got a lot of spunk and he's stubborn. That means he doesn't like losing. When it comes to a real battle, he will fight until he can't fight anymore, he will refused to be defeated otherwise. I could see it in his eyes; he didn't want that duel to end. If he could control his self-confidence then I couldn't really ask for a better partner in battle but him." Link admitted.

"Ah, you can see someone with a great amount of potential as well, eh?" The captain said, before humming in thought. "Of course, even the toughest of steels must first be tempered before they can be of any use..."

Link glanced up at the arena. Two more soldiers were taking their places to begin their sparring while Link was resting for a bit. His eyes darted from side to side for a few seconds realizing Bisenette was no longer there.

"Where has he gone off to anyways? Off to the stables like you had ordered him to?" He questioned with curiosity as he kept looking around for the man.

"Probably. Or, err... at least I'd hope so." The man mumbles and then sighs. "I don't like dishing out punishments when a soldier of mine breaks one of the rules or, more specifically, does something like he had done to you. I dislike it even more though when they disobey the order of punishment though." Orselon soon reached into a pocket in his pant leg and pulled out a pipe. He lit it and blew a couple of smoke rings with it before he continued speaking. "...Normally I wouldn’t have even let him fight you as part of the punishment, but I figured you would be able to damage his ego and hopefully help chip away at that selfish attitude of his. Hah, you were too good of an opportunity to pass up for him. I need to have a word of with the other boys as well... If they are unsure about a visitor at the gates they are supposed to report to me directly. Nobody did that." Orselon put the pipe in his mouth once more, blowing out a few more rings of smoke.

"By the way..." Link began. "...I’m searching for a certain fairy... By any chance, have you seen any? Specifically any blue ones?"

"A blue fairy you say, eh?" Orselon said as he looked up to the sky for a moment, thinking in his memory for a moment before soon shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Link. I can’t say that I know of any fairies myself. However, to the south-east of here, there is a forest that I send my boys up to in order to practice their tracking skills and their stealth. The ultimate test is to spot a forest fairy or look for evidence that one has been there, because I know for a fact some do live down in there. If you're a rather good tracker yourself, you might be able to find some, ...but... I am not sure it would be the one you are looking for."

 _"Damn..."_ He thought to himself dejectedly. He nodded at the instructions the captain had given him, for he has heard the same words almost to the very word nearly a dozen times. He wasn't even so much asking for Navi at this point but more of the fact that someone has spotted  _any_ blue fairy at this point. He sniffed in air through his nose in preparation to flare it all back out of his nostrils in a way to sigh without using his mouth because that would have been too noticeable to the captain. However, with that intake of air, a troubled expression soon went across his face at what smell he had just taken into his nostrils. Link sniffed again, which soon confirmed what he was smelling... His brow furrowed anxiously. "...Captain Orselon... what is in that pipe?"

"Curious?" The captain asked with a faint smile. "Nothing more than dried lemon glass. I just like the smell of it. You don't like the smell--?"

"No, it's not that..." Link interrupted as he sniffed his nose a third time. "I smell something like... like charcoal. Something... Something is burning... It wasn't there a moment ago, I swear..." Well, it was not like he had been sniffing the entire time but he was sure he would have at least caught the scent of it somewhere, if not someone else. Unless maybe this smell was natural, if someone was smithing a weapon or something, but he never smelled it the entire time so far and he doubted that he would smell it this strongly out here.

"Burning? What do you mean? Nothing should be burning..."

Well, there went the whole 'natural smell' theory out the window. Link knew the smell of fire very well. When Ganondorf had attacked Hyrule's capital that awful night; it was like the entire town had been set aflame. The memory of that night... the sound and smell of burning wood and even the smell of burning flesh of those unfortunate enough unable to escape their homes in time often resurfaced when he saw a large quantity of fire. He had wondered if he was beginning to develop a phobia of fire...? But then again, he wasn't afraid of fire at all. It just kept bringing back uncomfortable memories.

Link returned back to attention as he looked over when one of the soldiers began running towards them. Link stood up from the bench as the soldier soon met up to meet with them. The man was panting hard, from probably running as fast and hard as he could. "C-Captain! We have a big problem! The stables… they are on fire!"

" _W-What!?_ What happened?!" Orselon barked. Link felt as if his heart had just been grabbed and then brutally twisted... It took every ounce of effort to stop himself from shivering. "No… No...! Epona is inside the stables!" He cried out, soon dashing off before anyone could stop him.

"Wait a minute! Link!" He heard the captain call out to him, but he ignored him and sprinting his way towards the stables. As he got closer towards where the structure was, the more the smell of burning and fire was reaching his nostrils, once again beginning to resurface those awful memories. But due to his urgency, he ignored them as he turned around a corner and gasped as he stared at the stables.

Most of the structure was made out of stone, but some of it was made out of wood as well. Let alone all the hay and feed that was inside as well that was also flammable. The entire structure that _was_ wooden was completely engulfed in fire. The fire itself looked to be extremely new as the amount of black smoke coming from the flames was gradually increasing and almost none of the structure had begun to creak from the wood turning into charcoal... Link eyed a giant barrel of water with a couple of empty buckets next to it. He quickly walked over, and dunked a bucket into the barrel of water, before closing his eyes as he splashed the water over his head and on to himself. He repeated this, quickly dunking the bucket into the barrel again and splashing himself a second time to make sure he was completely soaked to help repel the heat of the fire. Link soon ran through the doorway of the stables and entered into the living inferno.

"Epona? _Epona!?_ Where are you?! Epona!!"

Link tried to listen for his horse's call, but he didn’t hear her at all. It was hard to hear almost anything subtle or distant with all the crackling the fire was making and the smoke nearly blinded him as well. He ran on deeper into the stables and soon let out a gasp. "Who are you!?"

Standing in front of him was a Gerudo woman. Most of them all looked the same from what he remembered and this one was no exception. While Hyrule was indeed at peace, the Gerudo’s had split into two halves. A side that decided to make peace with the rest of Hyrule after Ganondorf had been sealed away, and then there was the outcast side which were still troublemakers, doing what they used to do even before all the trouble had started. With no leader to order them, the Gerudo's were in a bit of dismay on what to actually do for sure. The side that decided to work on Hyrule's peace sided with Nabooru, one of the seven sages and they looked to her as the leader of their all female clan. The others had decided not to side with Nabooru and decided to do whatever they wanted, or whatever they could to cause trouble. The Tarubari clan were one of the clans working to try and stop them as they threatened Hyrule's peace once again.

Link eyed the two scimitars the Gerudo was holding within her hands and as she was turning around, Link quickly unsheathed his sword and shield. She now faced him, wearing a face mask of sorts like most Gerudo women do, this one was a different though, having some kind of symbol on it that differentiated from most face masks they wore. Link assumed maybe it was because she was a rebel of the clan resembling that her allegiance was not for anyone, not even Nabooru.

" _Aha~_ There you are…" She said to him. Her voice silken, a tone of seductiveness in it. She moved her hand and beckoned with it towards Link. "The Ocarina… give it to me, boy..."

"You seriously broke into this barracks alone, lit the stables on fire and stood here waiting _in_ the fire, just to lure me out for the Ocarina of Time...?" Link questioned before quirking a curious golden eyebrow at her. "Woman, are you insane?"

"I prefer things the more difficult way, boy. I watched your fight… I’m more than sure I can defeat you. What I'm curious about is how can you be possibly be considered a hero when you nearly got bested by a _rookie?!_ "

" _W--What?!_ I was not nearly bested by him! He only got one point!" Link argued defensively.

"And then to think you would fight with the ocarina actually on your person... I must admit though, it was smart to not leave it somewhere for someone like me to steal it... Too bad it doesn't matter though since you've just basically handed it to me on a silver platter!"

"... ... ..." Link couldn't help but just... _stare_ at her. "...You really are a lunatic." He said aloud, yet in a matter-of-fact tone that clearly showed he wasn't intimidated by her in the slightest. The only way he could really describe to her his feelings of her actions was utter _stupidity_.

" _Wha--!?_ Why you...!" She hissed at Link for the insult. She raised her two scimitars and charged at Link furiously, who quickly raised his shield to block the attacks on the right side. He parried her attacks with his own Kokiri sword with his left hand for his left side by using the blunt end of his own blade. After blocking a fury of slashes for about twelve seconds, Link let out a yell of fury. Her right handed scimitar came towards him, he slashed back with force using his Kokiri sword, bouncing her scimitar off track completely despite his blade being smaller. The strike that deflected her attack caused her to lose slight balance sending her left swing off course and scraping off of his shield. He followed up with punching his shield into her body, causing her to stumble back now from the force of the shove. Link followed up once again with his left shoulder, body checking her into her stomach. Now, finally sending her off of her feet, she began to fall backwards but surprised Link when he moved forward to press his assault, she bent back with her hands gripping the floor below as her feet went up; one of them kicking Link square in the jaw just as he was about to swing down on her.

"Guu-uugh!"

The hit forced his head back in a sharp jerk upwards as she rolled back comfortably onto her feet. Link, feeling slightly stunned from the kick stumbled back a couple of steps. He had to shake his now reeling head rapidly from side to side to regain his senses again as his left hand held and rubbed his now aching jaw.  
  
The Gerudo reached into a pouch at her waist side and pulled out a Deku nut and rearing her arm back in preparation to throw it on the ground, Link quickly shut his eyes to protect himself from the blinding flash the nut would provide along with the deafening crack that would make his ears ring for probably several seconds. However she didn’t actually throw it at the ground... she threw it at _him_. He let out a yelp as his face grimaced in pain as the nut hit him square in the forehead hard enough that the shell crack on impact before it clattered to the ground. The action caused him to open his eyes instinctively to see what struck him. _That_ was where she threw a second Deku nut onto the floor and Link’s vision turned completely white at the same time that loud **_CRACK_** was heard that made a high pitched ringing in his ears, both blinding and deafening him.

"Argh!!" Link let out in frustration. _"Damn! She faked me out! Where is she?!"_

He tried to listen to where she was, but the sound of the fire crackling with the constant obnoxious ringing in his ears made it impossible to tell. He predicted she would go behind him and he blindly spun around and slashed... only to slash nothing but the air air. He soon felt an arm go around his throat and apply pressure, sealing off his passage of air. Link let out a choked sound as he struggled to breathe air in, both of his hands attempted to pry at the Gerudo’s arm to try and break free or at the alleviate some of the pressure on his throat. She lifted him up enough off the ground where his feet dangled and couldn't apply any grip below himself to aid him. They only helplessly kicked and squirmed, first trying to find the ground and then fruitlessly trying to reach back enough to kick her. As much as Link struggled within her grip; he had nothing to give him momentum to fight her hold. He began moving the sword back to thrust into her arm; but with his vision still blinded by the deku nut the weapon was quickly snatched away and he heard it thrown to the ground a short distance away in front of him. He mentally cursed at how she had so effortless just disarmed him. Link's mouth opened as he tried to gasp for air that he was exerting with his struggling. His face quickly began turning into a shade of red, and then into blue. It felt like his body was somehow getting heavier as soon his lungs began to burn for the need of air.  
  
In the distance, he could feel something topple over; a structural pillar that became too weakened from the fire. Link _had_ to get out of this hold. If he fell unconscious here, he would be burned alive; or maybe even worse, captured by this woman and then who knew _what_ the rebel tribe of the Gerudo race would do to him... And also importantly... Epona... she could be getting burned alive right now was it was... He had... to save her!  
  
But he couldn't get free...! He was struggling with all his might and even now it was nothing more than a weak shuffle against her grip. He couldn't stop the breathless groan escaping his mouth as his lungs burned even more desperately for air. His vision may have returned by now; but his eyes were sealed shut in both pain and effort to even know. He didn't feel any danger, really, only at the moment frustration, and worry that Epona may not make it if he didn't somehow get out of this.

"Well, I was planning on only taking the Ocarina..." the Gerudo woman sneered.

"B...Bitch...!" Link rasped weakly.

She only chuckled in amusement. "Maybe the Hero of Time himself will be worth a hefty ranso--AHHCK!!"

Link felt himself thrown forwards where he crashed right in an empty pen for where one of perhaps many horses were to be stabled. The hay in there cushioned his collision with the floor. He breathlessly coughed before gasping in deep breaths desperately. He slowly pushed himself onto his feet after precious oxygen had been refilled back into his system. His vision was blurry but it was returning to him with every inhale he took... yet the more he gasped in, the more his lungs had begun to burn.

"Link, get down on the floor! You’re inhaling too much of the smoke like that!"

No wonder he felt like he was still being choked; breathing in all the smog as he was. Link did as he was instructed, quickly kneeling back down onto the floor, he took a few more gasps for cleaner air as his vision cleared. He glanced to his left and saw his sword that was very fortunately right next to him. He quickly snatched it and then when he looked behind him, he blinked in surprise. "B-Bisenette...? Is that you...?"

"Your horse and the other stabled animals are fine. I already herded them out of here before the fire got too bad." The blonde man declared.

"You cheap shotting little...… how dare you sneak up on me like that!" The Gerudo woman interjected angrily.

"Cheap shot? I used my _foot_ of all things!" Bisenette countered.

Link couldn’t help but weakly laugh out loud in response to what Bisenette said. The Gerudian bandit however was obviously not amused.

"Fine then, if you want to play like that, I can play dirty too!"

Link saw her turn to him. He quickly rose to his feet to get ready, but she slashed rapidly at one of the wooden pillars that helped support the structure with both of her scimitars. The pillar already weakened since it was on fire couldn't withstand the constant blows of her sharp, delicate blades. It groaned and creaked before leaning and began to topple over. Link shielded himself as the pillar collapsed down in front of him and causing him from the crash to fall back onto his bottom. The flames rose up and the hay that was inside of the pen he was in began to quickly catch on fire. Not only that, his only way out of the pen itself was now completely blocked off.

 _Oh CRAP...!"_ He thought to himself in growing panic. " _I’m trapped! There’s no way out and this entire pen is going to have me surrounded in fire in seconds!"_

"W-What are you doing?!!" Bisenette shouted at the woman, apparently the man was sharing Link's panic as there was plenty of it in his voice, causing the Gerudo to cackle in amusement.

" _Ahahahaha...!_ I don’t care if he lives or not; as long as he suffers for defeating our king! The ocarina may be destroyed, but hey, killing the "hero" will be too good to pass up! If that case protecting the ocarina is as good as the boy thinks it is though, maybe we'll get another shot at it anyways! Nice meeting you, boys! Have a nice _roast!"_

Link saw her raise yet another Deku nut and instinctively closed his eyes as he heard the deafening crack of it slamming onto the ground and breaking apart. Bisenette too shielded his eyes from the flash. When the two opened their eyes to look, she was gone with no visible trace. Link quickly sheathed his sword and shield since there was no reason to have them out and he may need both of his hands empty to get out of here… if he could.

The structure crumbled under the power of the fire and another pillar crashed somewhere. Sweat coated Link’s skin and his tunic clung to him because of it. He winced and gasped from a sudden hot pain in his right leg. He jerked it back, looking to see what it was, realizing as he turned his head to look that it was fire that had been licking at it. He looked up, hearing Bisenette shouting towards him over the sounds of the fire with its wrath.

"Nnngh... damn!" Bisenette cursed. "There’s no way through something like that! Hang on tight! I’m going to get water and make an opening! Try not to inhale the smoke while I'm gone!"

Bisenette soon rushed out of view and Link began to cough and he moved to cover his mouth, keeping as low to the ground as he could. Despite what Bisenette had ordered him to do, fire was all around him and on the floor. He had no choice _but_ to inhale the smoke, especially to avoid any fire from coming into contact with his skin again. Within seconds, he was feeling extremely light headed as he planted his hands on the floor with his knees to keep as close to the floor as possible and to make his form as tiny as he could so the fire wouldn't lick at his flesh anymore. It was _so... hot..._  
  
He was gasping as the intake of the smoke was taking a toll on his body. His lungs burned and his left hand raised up to grip his throat, as if doing so would help ease the burning sensation in it. He soon heard a giant splash. Something cool washed onto his entire form. He glanced his eyes that had tears in them from in-taking the smoke upward, seeing a group of people along with Bisenette through watery vision pouring the large barrel of water he had seen outside of the stables onto the collapsed pillar in front of him and onto his own body hissing out the fire, before long, there was an opening through the fire. The fire was not completely hissed out but weakened for the moment.

"C'mon!" Bisenette ordered. "Hurry up and jump out!"

Link struggled to push himself up, his body felt heavy as if he had ran a marathon and didn’t stop once. He struggled to balance himself before dashing forwards as best he could. His speed was sluggish at best but it was enough. He jumped into the air diving over the pillar and landed on the into a few people who caught him. He didn’t need to hoist himself up onto his feet though. They grabbed him and helped pull him upright. His arms soon around two people’s necks as they began walking him out of the stables. Before long, he felt a cold rush of air and he gasped, sucking in fresh air desperately. He felt himself lowered down onto the ground to be seated, supported by someone holding his back so he wouldn't collapse over as his vision soon came clearer, he saw Orselon’s face near his, looking down at him with a gruff expression on his face. "By the love of Nayru! Are you alright?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine..." Link wheezed, he soon felt something touch his left right cheek. He blinked and looked up to see Epona pushing her muzzle into him. He chuckled a little, getting up on his feet and wrapped his arms around the horse’s neck in affection for a short period before pulling away. "Oh thank goodness, you’re alright Epona! You know who helped you, right?"

Epona flicked her tail and then craned her neck some, soon starring directly at Bisenette. The tall man blinked a bit before beginning to blush, embarrassed.

"Wh-What? How is your horse so smart! Ugh! This is embarrassing!"

"Well, you already admitted to saving her to me in the stables anyways." Link chuckled. "But really, thank you so much for saving us both..." He said before sighing. "If you hadn't come when you did... I don't know what may have happened to me, or the Ocarina of Time. You didn't just do me a great service today, Bisenette. You saved a potential disaster for all of Hyrule as well."

"What -- Whatever…" The man merely muttered.

"So, Link, what in the wrath of Farore happened in there?" Captain Orselon asked him.

"I’m sorry Orselon, but I didn’t know Epona was already safe... A Gerudo lit the stables on fire to lure me in there to try and take the Ocarina of Time. She escaped though before me or Bisenette could stop her."

"Blast these Gerudo’s…" The captain spat. "Even with Ganondorf gone they’re still trying to stir up trouble with all of Hyrule, even at the edge of its borders… What’s more is that even with me having guards all over the walls they can still manage to sneak through! Bah! Well, there’s not much we can do about it now though but prepare for next time. Are you sure that you are okay?"

"I'm fine, really..." Link assured him, before his hand slowly slipped up to his jaw as he slowly massaged it. " ...My jaw hurts a little bit though... she had a good kick..." He muttered. What was it with people and their obscenely strong kicks today...? Nonetheless, he looked back towards the stables, the men all working together thankfully had already subdued the fire due to what seemed to be expert teamwork. If nothing else, a large quantity of water. It seemed the stables had sustained a fair amount of damage but nothing that shouldn't be repairable.

"Well, since you are supposed to be on your way soon and you say you’re okay, I know it's unfortunate that you were probably hoping to help train more than one soldier... but how about some dinner before you leave?" The captain offered. That was the kind of news Link wanted to hear. He sprang up immediately at the offer of free food.

"Oh, really?! Yes, please!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is just the "prologue", and I am proud to say that it is over 14,000 words long.
> 
> Although, admittedly, the other chapters for a little while won't be as long, but quality does not come strictly from quantity.


	2. Chapter 1: A Curse of the Majora's Mask; Justification of Actions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving his departure from the barracks, Link finds himself in an enigmatic forest, where he meets a foe whose actions and powers seem otherworldly...

  
  
  
  
**_“Oh, look Saria! What a pretty flower!”_**

_*Pluck*_

**_“Link! You can’t just pick flowers like that!”_ **

**_“Huh…? What do you mean?”_ **

**_“Well… …how to put it… hmm…”  
“How would you feel if you had to pick a slave, Link? Had to pick the best slave out of a group?” _ **

**_“What would I do? I couldn't do that! I don't want to have that kind of control power over a person; it's wrong! The entire idea of slavery is wrong...”_ **

**_“Then Link... how is picking a slave any different then picking a flower? Flowers are alive too...”_ **

**_“I… I -- didn’t think… I never thought of it that way before, Saria…”_**  
  
  
  
  
 

“W-Woah!”

 

Link came awake in a jolt, as Epona had bumped him up and down on his seat of the saddle to shake him awake. He nearly fell off of her and that was enough to startle him from his light slumber to be alert. He glanced around nervously and quickly. Were they under attack?

He soon let out a tired sigh, realizing it was Epona just trying to make him stay awake. He couldn't potentially spot Navi, or any fairies in the forest for that matter if he wasn't alert.

"Oh… I began to doze off again, didn’t I?" Link grumbled as he shook his head. "I’m sorry Epona. Maybe I should have stayed the night at the barracks. That sparring and the event inside the stables have really worn me down some, I guess...  
"...But that said, we still have the rest of this evening to travel. Maybe I should begin pacing myself a bit better. It won't do us good if I exhaust the both of us."

Link let out a long and wide yawn, out stretching his arms as he did so. He felt exhausted despite his accidental little nap, granted, it was probably only a few minutes. Epona stopped temporarily to let her master stretch with no chance of falling off. When his attempt to wake up his body finished, she began to walk on. Link rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the knuckles of his right hand as his left hand gently held the reins. He blinked his eyes when he looked up at the sky of the forest they were in with uncertainty.

"...Or is it evening? This forest is so dark and foggy, I can't even tell the time anymore. It’s just... so gloomy. I don’t think we’ll find Navi here. Even these trees look dead... The forest didn’t look this barren when we came in here at first..."

Did Orselon's men really track in these woods? Or had he just gone too deep? He couldn't imagine that he would have his men track in an area like this... It gave him the creeps.  
  
Link had a bad feeling that he couldn’t seem to shake. It was dead quiet, as if no animals even seemed to live here; which wasn't too unnatural he guessed, given the entire forest in this area seemed to be dead and barren; which that in itself was unnatural however... He highly doubted he would ever find Navi in such a forest, or at least this part of the forest.  
  
He pulled Epona to a slow stop to look around at his surroundings carefully. Everywhere looked the same. There was a fog that was so thick he couldn’t see the top of the trees that also seemed to stand unnaturally tall; towering over him. Looking around didn't help either very much, he could barely see anywhere in any direction because the fog being so thick. The fog itself was a grayish blue which felt unnatural and desolate and the more Link looked around, feeling gradually more exposed until it built up into a sudden shiver.

"…No. We’ll get lost if we go much further. She isn’t here, I’m sure of it. Epona, let’s go back."  
  
Link steered Epona around, but just as they turned around, Link gasped. A bright light right in front of Epona startled the horse and took a harsh step back.

"A forest fairy?!!" Link let out in surprise.

The white fairy Link had noted about let out a loud sound that mimicked that of a bell chime. The noise startled Epona and in fear and animal instinct, she reared back, standing on her back legs, she kicked out her forelegs letting out a shrill neigh as if attacking the fairy, trying to ward it back. The fairy quickly darted out of the way so it wouldn't get hit by the flailing horse's legs. Caught by surprise, Link tried to grip the reigns of Epona's saddle as she reared back suddenly from the sound, but Link was too late. His hold on the reigns had been off guard and not nearly tight enough. He let out a yell of surprise as he felt himself slip off of the saddle and he flew through the air so harshly that he flipped over once. The back of his head crashed into the ground first and with harsh impact. The world for him went black in an instant. His unconscious body soon rolled sprawled a short distance away, ending face down on the forest floor.

Epona calmed down and turned towards Link, brushing her muzzle against his face as if asking him to get up. The boy however was unresponsive. Breathing, but not responding, he had been knocked out cold from her panic due to the landing on his head. Fortunately, he seemed to be fine otherwise...

 

**_“Heheeheeeheee~~”_ **

 

Epona’s head rose up hearing the high pitched laugh, she stepped back afraid. Out of nowhere a small figure appeared, looking no taller than her master. This small figure however wore something strange on his face; a mask, a creepy looking one at that, Epona couldn’t lift her stare away from the mask's eyes that seemed to give off a hypnotizing glare. It ordered her to stay put… _demanded…_

The creature waddled over, as another fairy which was colored a dark purple with it's form outlined in red swung by from one of the trees and hovered near the mask wearer. The form clattered as it waddled over, taking quick and short steps but moved quickly. The "skin" of the creature actually made out of wood. It reached Link and lifted the mask from its face to see the unconscious Hylian child face down. The form resembled that of a small scarecrow. It examined Link before his gaze turned to the white fairy, that was outlined in light yellow.

"Heheh, That was too easy. Nice work Tatl!"  
  
The white fairy seemed to chime at the compliment before speaking. "Yeah, it’s almost no fun anymore, Skull Kid. But this guy looks like an odd traveler~ He may have some really neat things on him. Hurry up and take a look!" She urged, bobbing herself up and down quickly.  
  
The scarecrow named Skull Kid slid the mask back down on to his face.  Ysing the tip of his foot to tap Link in the side as a precaution to see if he was truly unconscious, from which Link didn't even stir. With a firm kick, Skull Kid rolled the boy over onto his back. His left arm was upturned to land back on the ground again limply. Skull Kid knelt next to Link, patting down his tunic to see if there was anything of particular interest on him. He took a sac which was full of rupees which was all of Link's money. It wasn’t hard to feel the large bump near the left side of Link’s tunic, which was the protective case that held the Ocarina of Time. Skull Kid pushed the case open and pulled out the blue instrument. Even with the dense fog of the forest, it seemed to shimmer and sparkle as if intense sunlight was hitting it. Skull Kid soon held the mouth piece next to the air pockets in the mask and he tried blowing it through the mask to play a note. It produced a high pitched and rather horrible sound. He giggled at the sound in delight and he  played another off tone note, giggling at the horrendous sound he produced there as well.

"Wooow~ it’s such a pretty Ocarina! Skull Kid can I try it out too? Oh please let me try it out as well! _Pleeeaaasssseeee?"_ The darker fairy pleaded, before the light one swooped up and bumped head-on into him. " _Ow!_ Sis!!" He wailed.

"Tael! There’s no way you can touch something as precious as this!" Tatl scolded. "What would you do if you accidentally dropped it and it broke?"

"Aww! B-But sis! You _never_ let me have any fun at all! It isn’t fair!" Tael sulked.

"I don't care if you think it's fair or not! What would you do if you broke it, huh?!"

 

" _U-Unnghh..._ O-Ow...!"

 

Between the two fairies who had soon began to bicker at each other and Skull Kid playing awful notes on the Ocarina and giggling with himself every so often, none of the three heard Link let out a groan of pain. He opened his eyes only to be greeted with blurred vision. The back of his head throbbed in intense pain as well which made him clench his eyes shut again. He heard a weird sound that grated against his ears making the pain even worse! It sounded like the Ocarina of Time... but... that was impossible, he had the Ocarina of time. Surely he was just imagining it...

Then the sound came yet again, grating against his ears. Slowly, Link slid his left hand towards his chest, feeling where the padded case surely was.

It wasn't there. He looked to his right and saw it on the ground, open. No Ocarina inside of it.

He launched up with a jerk, clutching his head with both hands for a second as he gasped coming awake at full attention, his eyes opened wide as he grabbed the open case. The loud screech sounded in his ears, making his brain feel like it was split open with the intense headache he had. He glanced up at the two fairies ahead of him and that other small form he couldn't quite make out yet. Clenching his teeth angrily, he grabbed the case, shutting it with a snap and shoved it back into the pocket of his tunic. Then, the Hero of Time slowly stood up onto his feet.

"Tael, I’m not going to argue with you! You don’t even have large enough hands! How could you--" Tatl began, before her voice slowly trailed off as she looked at Link. "...Huh?"

The white fairy let out a shrill loud ring in alarm. Both the darker fairy and Skull Kid turned around, both letting out yelps of surprise to see Link standing up, taking slow steps towards them, with one hand still holding his head. Both fairies swooped away hid behind Skull Kid, looking out from each of his shoulders as Skull Kid looked at the Ocarina before quickly hiding it behind his back nervously. A futile attempt of course. Link just stared in disbelief back at them for a moment before taking yet one more step closer.

"...The Ocarina... I know you have it... Just give it back to me and we’ll both forget this _ever_ happened..." Link rasped. He held out his hand out to receive his stolen item. Skull Kid looked at the hand before he just looked away from Link and looked up towards the sky, beginning to whistle in an innocent tone as if he did nothing wrong at all. The scarecrow was simply teasing him. Link’s face tensed in annoyance and anger, beginning to show what he was really feeling inside of him right now. He spoke through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to scream - to strangle the animate scarecrow to get his instrument back. Link spoke in a very tense, threatening and commanding voice all in one.  
  
"I'm not asking for it back... My ocarina...  
**Give,**  
**it,**  
**to,**  
**me!** "  
  
The white fairy let out a sound that almost sounded like a squeak in reaction to Link's voice. "Uh... Skull Kid? Maybe you should just give him his Ocarina back before he outright _murders_ us...?"  
  
Despite the threatening tone in Link’s voice and one of his fairy companions trying to make him reconsider what he was doing, Skull Kid still continued to whistle and turned his head to look the other way. Link clenched his teeth tighter in rising anger. He took a step back and then suddenly rushed forwards lunging at the scarecrow.

 **"** **GIVE** _ **BACK THE OCARINA!!!**_ **"** _  
  
_ Link seemed to have caught the scarecrow by surprise although both of the fairies quickly scrammed, splitting away. He smirked in satisfaction as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Time was his. He was the Hero of Time after all. He would get this wannabe-troublemaker, take the Ocarina of Time back and then potentially strangle the little cretin, or at least teach him a lesson he would surely not forget anytime soon. The Scarecrow wasn't even looking at him yet. Still staring off at the sky, completely unaware it would seem that he was about to be pinned and then wrestled onto the ground. Closer... only a few inches away now...  
  
In an instant, that all changed. He didn't even blink and he missed the time the scarecrow had his head turned from the sky and without even any sign of _motion_ , he -- the mask stared right into his eyes -- stared right into his soul. Link didn't even have time to gasp at the creepy displeasure that look gave him. The scarecrow jumped up from the ground and Link slammed face first where his target had once been with a pained out grunt. Link pulled his face from the ground, pushed up from the ground on his elbows as he just stared ahead of him in disbelief.

"What the… _hell?!_ "  
  
Link's thoughts that had only just begun to try and process what had just happened was interrupted by a loud frightened neigh and instantly it felt as if someone had grabbed his heart through his chest and began to squeeze and twist it mercilessly. It was Epona’s neigh. In complete panic, he quickly spun around on his back and sat up to look behind him. His eyes went wide in horror. The scarecrow had jumped from where he had been standing and landed right on to Epona’s saddle. The horse kicked her feet up, before beginning to run off in a full on sprint -- right towards Link. She was no more than a few seconds away.

" _No, NO!_ Not Epona!!" Link cried in horror. He had no choice but to quickly roll away only with fractions of a second left to spare before he had been completely trampled on by his own horse. The scarecrow let out a hyena-like laugh at this in amusement. Link wasted no time as before he even finished his roll, he placed the toes of his right foot into the ground and in one motion threw himself right at Epona, aiming for her side. His hands tried to find the saddle but his leap was just a few inches short. His fingers felt her side and he quickly grabbed onto the hide of his own horse and squeezed it into his hands to desperately hold on. The horse didn’t stop, nor show any signs of slowing down. Link was soon being dragged away holding nothing but the side of his horse's stomach with his bare hands, being dragged along the way. He gritted his teeth with intense pain and effort. His bare legs along with the lower left half of his body dug into tiny rocks and sticks against the dirt of the forest floor. Epona was soon dragging him along at the speed of a full on sprint. Link tried to order the scarecrow to stop, or Epona even, but all that came out of his voice was a loud grunt of pain as he felt a rock gash into one of his legs.

"What the? No freeloaders are allowed!" Skull Kid shrieked. "Get off! Tael, Tatl! Get him off!"

Link’s eyes were closed from the effort and the exertion he was feeling from struggling to hold on, even if he could see, nothing he could do would stop the two fairies who soon charged head on into his face, the combined strength was actually surprisingly powerful and Link’s head jerked back from the force as he let out a breathless cry of surprise and pain. Even two fairies flying into him like that was enough for him to begin losing the little bit of grip he had. It was only soon after that he felt a sharp pain to his right side, as Skull Kid kicked him with such a powerful blow, it forced his breath out. He tried to gasp as his hands shook on Epona's hide. He had no time to recover as Skull Kid sent his side another kick even more powerful -- he swore the world flashed white and then red as it seemed to send him soaring into the air at least ten feet up into the air spinning wildly out of control.

" _EPONAAAA---"_

 

**_*CRASH!!!*_ **

 

 

Link landed on the ground with a heavy thud, landing terribly on his right shoulder. He was sent spiraling down a hill at rapid pace. He had no way to stop himself as he rolled right into a large rotten fallen log. It was hollow and collapsed under the force of him colliding into it and the entire structure fell right on top of him. Epona’s panicked neighs, gallops and the shrill laugh of the Skull Kid was the last thing heard for several moments before the forest ended up being dead quiet. And for a moment, he struggled to keep consciousness. He felt only pain, intense pain...

Movement came from the log as Link emerged from them a long minute later, letting out a gasp for air as he clutched his right shoulder in pain. He struggled to get up, but the pain in his left side and his legs from attempting to put weight on them hurt him badly… so bad, that it was enough for him to cry out in pain and collapse on to the ground after a step or two and onto his stomach. Gritting his teeth in effort, he pushed himself back up onto his left hand and both of his knees as his right arm hung nearly limp. It wasn't broken but the pain in it hurt too much to even have any command he gave it to respond.

The events of what had just happened began to flood into him; not able to feel such emotions before because he had been too filled with panic, anger and adrenaline. Tears soon filled Link’s blue eyes. He couldn’t believe what just happened… In an instant, the silent sounds of the forest was soon filled with his uncontrollable sobbing.

"Epona… What happened to you…? Why did she ignore me like that? _Why!?_ " Link cried out in emotional agony, pounding his left fist into the forest floor, although that itself was rather weak. "That... That Skull Kid... he must have done something to her somehow...! He must have...! I won't forgive him... Once I get Epona and the Ocarina back... I'll... I'll...  
"...I've felt like this before... When I was an adult and I saw the damage Ganondorf had done to the Kokiri village...  
"Those... Those three... They... they will..." _ **They will pay for this!!**_"

 

Link pushed himself up, holding his aching right shoulder with his left hand. He half stumbled, half limped his way forwards, being fueled by nothing other than animistic rage that only grew from him soon spotting and staring at the tracks that were left by Epona's hooves. Looking down, Link also saw the disgusting condition of his own legs. They were almost covered here and there with his own dark red blood that was oozing out of his skin, leaving bits and droplets running down on the surface of his boots or the ground. It hurt terribly to stand on his legs. He felt like he may collapse again if nothing more than a simple small breeze were to blow.  
  
He decided to follow the tracks in the ground Epona left; after all, there was nothing else he could do. He needed to get both Epona and the Ocarina back from those thieves. Aside from his sword and shield, he had just lost everything he had that was important to him in an instant. He tried to go as fast as he could but the pain slowed him down considerably, despite how badly he wanted to find Epona, he had willed himself to pace himself. Collapsing would only slow him down even more.

Link felt depressed and alone despite the short burst of anger he had earlier. He had felt he had been rather alone on his entire journey, but Epona despite being a horse, was his friend and she had always erased that loneliness away whenever he felt it. Now though... he had just lost the most two precious things he cared about that were traveling with him; they had just been snatched away and he felt he didn’t try hard enough to stop it. How could he save an entire country from total destruction and yet allow some petty thieves to rob him from right under his nose with not only one of his friends, but probably one of the most important treasures that the entire country of Hyrule trusted him with? He had just broken the trust of everyone he had ever known in his life. How could he possibly explain it to everyone especially Malon and Zelda? That Epona and the Ocarina of Time were stolen by a funny little scarecrow that wore a strange mask? He had stopped the country from falling under Ganondorf's reign, there was no excuse...  
  
As he thought about the mask, chilly goosebumps came about onto his skin and he shivered at the very recent memory of staring into the eyes of that mask. It had paralyzed him, although only for a short time because instead of tackling the Skull Kid he instead ate the dirt. Had he had been standing there, even being as brave as he was, he may have shrunk back in fear -- maybe even ran. He had never felt such fright before. It was even more frightening than the day that the Deku Tree had been attacked by one of Ganondorf's monsters; the Insect Queen known as Gohma that Ganondorf cursed the Deku Tree with; literally eating him from the inside out. That was the first time in Link's life that he had ever even faced anything dangerous. He had also met Navi on that very same day. The Deku tree had sent her to send word to him about what was happening. That was also the very same day where he had set his first step out onto his journey to save Hyrule. His life and the way he had viewed it had forever changed that same day.  
  
And now here he stood alone. He so wished Navi was here right now to comfort him; to give him encouragement. She always had done that for him when he felt like it was impossible and he wanted to just quit; positive that he couldn't do it. She never allowed him to quit. She would always just lectured him for what seemed to be for hours about what would happen if he did stop. Her number one reason was that she said that she believed in him and knew he could do it. And against all odds, she had been right. Now, he was running through all those lectures in his mind, in a way to try to help encourage himself to not give up. He had been in worse situations before. He could do this...

But he had never been in such a situation alone... Navi had always been there with him, and now...

The woods were getting darker and darker and Link felt cold shivers as night began to fall. There was nothing but silence other than his quick sharp breathing from the aching pain, his footsteps on the crusted ground, the clinking of his shield and sword scabbard scraping together and the soft drips when his blood from his legs hit the forest dirt. But the blood was beginning to dry now and the bleeding itself was beginning to slow. Eponas' tracks simply continued onward and Link followed them in his sluggish limp. Half an hour passed -- sometimes he felt bitterness, sometimes depression and other times absolute hatred and anger. This had eventually turned into helplessness. Link soon let out a growl of frustration as he looked at the tracks; they went around a bit everywhere now, but ultimately, they went nowhere else and seemed to have just abruptly ended with no trace of direction.

 

_"Heeheeheehee~~!”_

 

Link spun around hearing the laugh right behind him but he saw nobody there... Link gritted his teeth angrily, as the laugh soon came again to his left. He spun in that direction and barely being able to see through the fog, Link had managed to spot a tunnel off into the distance that was seldom hidden by a load of twisted dead branches from the sick and dead trees in the forest. Despite the intense pain caused by quick movement, Link sprinted off towards the cave, moving as fast as his body would allow him, he shoved his way past the branches that blocked the entrance. The inside of the cave quickly turned dark though and as Link ran in the blind darkness, he felt his right foot not even touch the ground. His heart sank just like he felt his body beginning to sink as well.

 _A...Pit...?!"_  
  
Link tried to twist himself around to grab the ledge he had just sprinted off of but he had been running too fast. There was no chance for his arms to cover the distance he had made. He had flung himself into the void and felt his body begin to plummet. Link closed his eyes and yelled out long and loud in panic, yet at the same time he felt like smacking himself for making such a stupid mistake such as blindly running into a cave like that. Absolute despair washed over him… How could he let it end just like--

 

**_*THUMP!!*_ **

 

"Unnf...!" Link let out in sharp pain as he crashed on his back and was bounced around a little. -- his shield and sword scabbard were most certainly not the most comfortable items in the world to land on with them strapped to his back as they were; let alone the pain his shoulder and legs were in. The boy slowly opened his eyes, barely able to make out anything yet as his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness. He had fallen for at least a good ten seconds, how was he still alive...?

He let out a groan, as relief washed over him over the fact he was... well, _not_ dead. He brushed the blonde bangs of his hair away from his eyes and wiped sweat off of his brows. He looked down to see that he had landed on a large flower; a Deku Flower. They were incredibly soft and had great padding considering they were really just a giant flower. It was fortunate one had grown right where he fell. Anywhere else and he would have been dead for sure. He was observant to note there were many puddles of water surrounding the flower he landed on. It must have grown because it had plenty of water here, despite the complete lack of sunlight. Sunlight wasn't a requirement for the flowers to grow, but it drastically sped up the growing process...

Link suddenly heard a loud click that echoed throughout the caverns walls. He yelped out as light shone right into his eyes only a second later. He instinctively shielded them with his hand, slowly peeking out through small openings between his fingers, his eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness though still not used to the light from the intense darkness in the cave and the darkness the forest had held with the thick fog.

He gritted his teeth angrily, seeing Skull Kid levitating himself in the air with the two fairies, each on a different side of him near his shoulders. Skull Kid's form was against the light, so his form appeared pitch black, except for the eyes of the mask. Both eyes glowed brightly, as if they were the sun themselves. It sent shivers of panic down Link’s body staring back into those eyes like he had the first time as he struggled to his feet. He couldn’t stop sweating in fear, but he couldn’t understand why. He watched the silhouette of Skull Kid toss the Ocarina of Time up into the air and catching it lazily each time. The sight itself made Link grit his teeth in anger.

"What… What in the world… are you...?" Link asked cautiously. The Skull Kid however didn't answer right away, seemingly studying Link...? He couldn't tell due to the mask...

"…Stupid horse of yours." Skull Kid suddenly let out. "The thing never even listens to a thing that’s said to it! _Soooo_ I did you a favor~"

"Wh…What…? Where is she...? _WHERE IS SHE?!_ " Link demanded. "What did you do with my horse!?!"

"There’s no reason to keep a horse like that, so I got rid of it for you. No need to thank me though for the--"

"Got -- You... got _**rid** of her!?_ " Link screamed furiously. He felt absolute anger and hatred wash over any inkling of fear he had now. His entire form began to shake, small at first, but it increased gradually into a violent shiver. His hands balled up into tight fists; his knuckles white from the force. Try to calm himself down as he might, his breathing increased into ragged breaths. Link pulled his sword out from the sheath with a loud metallic ring, gripping the blade tightly in both hands. The sword shook visibly with the rest of his form. A deadly icy glare was in his eyes.

"Oh, come on now… I’m just trying to have a little bit of fun with you, fool! _Lighten up a bit!_ " Skull Kid taunted him. When he said “lighten up”, the light in the cave became more intensely bright in response to his words. Link squinted his eyes and dipped his head down some so the light didn’t blind him with its intensity. He clenched his teeth in anger in response to the poor joke.  
  
" _Fun..._ _ **  
**_ " _ **Fun?!**_ ** _!_** _  
_ " _You call attacking me, robbing me of my horse, as well as my ocarina as a method of_ ** _enjoyment?!_** " Link raged. "If that’s the case, then you are nothing but sadistic!! How can you even allow such trivial thoughts to consume you in such a way!?"

Skull kid giggled in response, finding Link's frustration and pain amusing. "Well, I don’t recall that _you_ have to have fun as well for _me_ to have fun. Why would I care about what you think or feel?"

"Are you seriously that ignorant to other people!? What is with you that makes you just as soulless as a mindless monster!?"  
  
"Heeheehee! _Fool!_ People have done _nothing_ but boss _me_ around! However now I can boss people around now like they did to _me!_ All thanks to this mask!" Skull Kid cried out as he tapped the face of the right side of the mask. "I would be soulless if I let others push me like before, but now they don't even got any other choice but to follow what _I_ say! _Heeheeheehee~! **YES!!** THAT'S THE PRICE THEY HAVE TO PAY! THE PRICE THEY GET FOR **MAKING FUN OF ME!!**_ "

"That’s no better than the actions of a playground bully you ludicrous child! You can’t judge everyone based off the actions of just a few people!!" Link argued in a heated tone. Skull Kid soon levitate upside down, cocking his head left and right a few times, before spinning himself upright once more.

"Why not?"

" _'_ _Why'?!_ " Link asked in disbelief. "Nobody is the same, that's why!!"

"Hah... ahahaha -- **WRONG.** " Skull Kid shrieked out abruptly, raising his arms to the sky as if he was praising the lights that shone on him... like -- like he was some kind of god.  
"Everyone may not be the same, but everyone in the long run is greedy and selfish! _Everyone_ wishes they had absolute control and power like I have! Don’t try to pretend that they don't… _I know!!_ Why would anyone bother to sacrifice for themselves if they get nothing in return? It's pointless! Everyone uses those that are useful to them for their own gain and abandon all the rest of the trash!"  
  
"Then how does that make you anymore different than the type of people that you resent? How are the actions that you are doing make  _you_ any different? How are those actions possibly _justified!?_ " Link accused him as he took a step forward, wincing in visible pain as he put more weight on his leg, but he pressed on. "Stealing peoples' things and attacking them for no reason is not as bad as being teased? Grow up! When did two wrongs possibly make a right for you?! You dare try to accuse me of being greedy, of wanting power and control, yet here you are attacking me and boasting to me about the power you have! You're nothing but a selfish, narcissistic hypocrite!!"

"... ... ..." For once the Skull Kid did not have something to say in retaliation to Link. His arms still raised in the air, although his form almost looked frozen.  
  
Link closed his eyes as he looked away for a moment, his voice suddenly quieter. "I already had everything that I wanted, except for one more thing. That one thing I'm searching for is a _lost friend_ that I want to see again..." He began, before shooting the Skull Kid an angry glare as the tension came back in his voice again. "And here I have to endure listening to you accuse me of being greedy and selfish because I want to see her one more time! Are my friends selfish for praying for me to be safe while I'm gone from home to look for her? Are they greedy and selfish to pray for my safe return too? Are your two fairies selfish creatures as well? Surely they must be using you too if everyone uses everyone else and trashes them once they are no longer useful, right? How can you insult everyone like that without insulting _your_ friends as well!?"  
  
Skull Kid lowered and crossed his arms and... was silent...  
Then the eyes on the mask glowed. Link felt something off about the mask, as if he could feel the dark energy it had go through him. He struggled to fight back a shiver. The eyes of the mask soon glowed brightly, as Skull Kids' voice seemed to echo inside of his head even though he spoke outside.

"You know what...?  
"I’m **_sick_** of looking at your _**face!!**_ _**FOOL!**_ **FOOL!** **FOOL!**

 

_**FOOL!** _

 

_**FOOL!** _

 

_**FOOL!** _

 

_**FOOL!!!** "_

 

Link watched as Skull Kid began to tilt his head left and right, slowly. The pace quickly sped up however and within the seconds the mask began to rattle from the quick movement. The rattling echoed throughout the cavern walls. Link watched and tensed, fearing something bad was happening. The rattling sound continued and Link felt an intense pain. It felt like something was splitting into his head, into the mesh of his brain. Link cried out from the intensity of it, dropping his sword onto the Deku flower that he soon fell and had been brought to his knees on, forced to clutch his head with his hands desperately.

"Ah... _Arrgghhhh...!!_ "

He hollered in pain, the rattling continued, echoing throughout his eardrums. The pain continued to intensify in his head; he began to hear sounds that weren’t there. He heard the sound of large leaves grinding against more leaves. It was like a harsh rustling, but the sound was in a pattern, like a hypnotic dance. Link squeezed his eyes out as the rattling of the mask faded and all what was left was this rustling noise. He felt something brush against his face. He dared himself to open his eyes to look. He instantly regretted it.

He crawled back in panic as he was surrounded by hundreds of Deku Scrubs, all dancing in rhythm, slowly closing in towards him. Link got up from his bottom and stepped back in fear, looking around him. The area was nothing but black. The dancing got louder and louder as the Deku scrubs stepped ever closer...

Link soon screamed, turned around and bolted away, running as fast as his feet could carry him, holding his hands against his ears in a futile attempt to drown out the sound of the leaves inside of his head with the mask's rattling with the intense pain he felt. Holding his ears did nothing to block out the sound. He soon felt his right leg unable to move which caused him to fall face down onto the 'ground' despite it still being void of nothing but blackness. How he could he had fallen and tripped over something if nothing was even there? He turned around, as a vine of some sort had wrapped around his right ankle. He reached for his sword but then realized he had dropped it on the Deku Flower -- wait, where was he now if not on the Deku Flower? Wouldn't his weapons be with him too?! In a panic, he reached back, planning to use his shield as a backup to back the vines away, but even that was not with him either. A sound left him sounding like a cry escaped him in his growing fear, realizing he had dropped that as well.

Tugging at the vine in his panic, he gasped as he looked up, seeing a rather large Deku Scrub slowly making his way over to him. He tugged at the vines harder, but the material didn’t even budge. He tried to yell out for help but he couldn’t even so much as hear his own voice over the loud rustling noises of the dancing Deku Scrubs that now surrounded him from every direction. He did however hear himself scream as the Deku mouth began to reach closer. He closed his eyes in absolute terror as he felt the warm air of the Deku mouth piece from the towering Scrub surround him... Then eternal silence.

 

Link heard a pair of slight giggling after what felt like an eternity. Link was too afraid to open his eyes, but as the giggles moved to snorts of laughter and persisted, he forced them open. He was lying on his back. As he slowly sat up, he realized with relief he was back in the cave once more and gone from that hellish nightmare. He looked up at Skull Kid and the two fairies, the fairies snickering in laughter, trying to hold it back and keep quiet. Suddenly, Skull Kid let out a high-pitched cackle as well; slapping his hands on his knees as he soon pointed at Link.  
  
" _ _HAH--AHAHAH!!_ That _IS_ a new good look for you!_ " Skull Kid hooted in laughter.

 _"New... look...?"  
  
_ Link tore his gaze away from the scarecrow to look downwards at one of the puddles of water nearby. He soon jumped back, as he put his hands in front of his vision and let out a noise even he didn’t recognize. He had tried to scream -- but it didn't even come out as one he recognized...!  
  
_"D-Deku--?! I’ve been turned… into a DEKU SCRUB!?"_  
  
He still had his green hat, yellow bangs of hair that were the texture of leaves and his green shorts, but the rest of him was undeniably that of a Deku Scrub. Link tried to speak, but his voice was muffled. He began prying at his face as if he was trying to remove a costume head piece off of him, but it was completely stuck on. If Link could, he would have gritted his teeth and tried harder; but there was no teeth of his to even grit! His mouth was nothing but a trunk with a gap that enabled him to breathe. He heard the trio above him laugh even harder now as Link desperately tried to get his human form back.

"HAHAHAHAH!! That’s what you get for teasing me _FOOL._ " The Skull Kid cackled. "You can stay here and live in that form, FOREVER! You even got a nice flower here to make your home in! **ALONE!** _Heeheehee!!"_

 _"N_ - _N_ _o! NO!! This can’t be! I’m human, not a Deku Scrub! This isn’t me… it can't be... it can't be!! THIS ISN’T ME!!!"_

 

 

 

 

 _…Oh my… Yet another one has fallen to the curse of the mask…_

_But this one seems special somehow… Will he be able to break the curse of the mask?_

_Believe in your strengths… Hoho…_

 

_Believe… believe…_

 

 


	3. Chapter 2: Apocalypse Now; Doomsday Device

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuck now in an altered shape from the terrifying magic of Majora's Mask, Link learns that he must quickly find a solution to a situation even more pressing...

 

 

 

 **_“Zelda, what do you think happens to us when we die?”_ **  
  
**_“Hmm? That’s a sudden question to ask, Link… Nobody really knows what happens.”_ **  
  
**_“I know, I know. But what do you think? What is your opinion?”_ **  
  
**_“Umm… Well, I think we pass on to another realm… Eventually, we will be reborn as someone else, yet still the same person at the same time…”_ **  
  
**_“You don’t think we just disappear, do you…?”_ **  
  
**_"Link, even if that was true, we wouldn’t disappear completely. A person who passes away will still live on as long as their memory remains in other people. I think a lot of people think that way too; that is why we make graves for the dead -- to remember them by.”_ **  
  
**_“But I can’t help protect Hyrule forever... Eventually I’m going to grow older, and have to pass away and…_ **  
**_"To just disappear… When I think about it Zelda… I just get really scared… When I first left the Kokiri forest, everyone was worried about me. But with Saria’s Song I was able to keep some form of contact. But when I pulled out the Master Sword, that contact had been gone for seven years. Seven years I just disappeared from everyone who cared for me… It must have been painful for Saria and the others… Eventually people are going to pass away from me, and I pass away for them…_ **  
**_"That pain, I don’t want to feel it again. I don’t want to provide it again either, but it will come sooner or later… The feeling of something you know that is going to happen, you know what is going to happen and you know how it's going to happen, but there is nothing you can do to prevent it…_ **  
**_"That is what scares me the most..."_ **

 

 

 

 

**_“HEEHEEHEEEEE!!_ _”_ **

 

"Turn me back…! _TURN ME BACK NOW!!"_ Link finally managed to let out through his, unfortunately new body. His voice sounded similar, yet it didn't, having a higher pitch, and it sounded somewhat muffled underneath.  
  
"Tsk tsk tsk… Not even saying please? What a rude one that you are… heheheh. Why don't you beg and plea to me and I might consider it?"

Link fought hard… fighting the urge to beg and plead like a dog. He knew deep down that was what Skull Kid wanted him to do and wouldn’t transform him back anyways. He would say no, and laugh at him even more. He knew deep down inside that even though Skull Kid had the ability to change him back to normal, he wouldn't fall for the coax.

Skull Kid pointed at the puddle of water at Link’s feet. "This water, you will drink it -- somehow. You will live off of it if you want to survive. Who knows? I might come again… turn you back to normal... maybe. IN A FEW YEARS THAT IS!!" The scarecrow howled and began a high pitched hyena-like laugh that the white fairy joined in with. The black fairy known as Tael however didn’t seem to respond. Link starred at Tael, as if it was a silent plea to tell his “friend” to transform him back. The fairy only looked away from him in response from Link's stare.

A portal began to form against one of the walls in the cave. Skull Kid began levitating backwards into it, while starring at Link. Link soon rushed forwards as fast as his stubby, newer legs could carry him. Skull Kid neared the portal, Link made a dive towards the portal and at Skull Kid; he didn’t want to be stuck in this prison forever. He just couldn't!

The white fairy swooped down, tackling Link’s skinny Deku legs which easily tripped him over. As a Deku Scrub, he was incredibly lighter than he normally was. Nonetheless, Link landed face down into the ground, banging his mouth piece against the dirt. He struggled to get back up to resume his charge to the portal, but the fairy swooped again, bonking him on the head this time which made him fall onto his back, making a growling like sound at him.

"S-Sis! Come on! Stop already!"

The white fairy turned around, letting out a ring as he saw Skull Kid and Tael had entered the portal. It was closing incredibly fast. Tatl zoomed towards the portal, but it closed and she ended up running face first into a wall instead, which she bounced off of and plopped on the ground. She seemed dazed for a moment, before letting out a loud ring.

"W-W-W-W-Wait a minute! Skull Kid! You can hear me, right!? Tael!? DON’T LEAVE ME IN HERE WITH THE GUY I JUST BEAT UP! SKULL KID!!! TAEL!!!" 

Tatl turned around and let out a quick ring, as Link soon dived towards her. She managed to just dodge out of the way and quickly distanced herself away from Link. " _AHHH!_ Skull Kid! This is **NOT** FUNNY! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" She shrieked, dodging another dive Link made towards her, causing him to crash into the ground again.

Link sighed as best as he could, just laying on the ground. He felt both mentally and physically drained. "How does it feel to be betrayed like that…? Like you said yourself... it's not funny now, is it...?"

" _SH-SH-SHUT UP YOU!_ They didn’t ABANDON me here. They will come back for me!"

"How can you even think that? After all he just did to me and my horse? And I’m going to assume this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened too! Not only that, but he just insulted the _both_ of you… Why do you blindly follow someone like that believing they’re your friend? That is not what friendship is."

"You don’t know him! How are you even speaking anyways!? Hmph… ‘Guess it’s not that surprising since all Dekus can speak…" The stubborn fairy muttered. "Didn’t think you would figure out how to though so soon… Now I have to listen to you…" As she floated, her form tilted away someone, as if she was begrudgingly tilting her head away like some teenager. "Well, since I _have_ to put up with you, the name is Tatl! Don’t you forge-- _AIIIEEEE!!_ "

Tatl wasn’t paying attention that Link had moved closer to her. When he had got close enough, Link dived to her, and caught her in his hands, as he collapsed on the ground. He could feel her struggling to get out from his hold. Link blew a bubble that had formed from his Deku mouth. It enlarged before he released her from his hands, soon after, “spitting” the bubble out of his mouth which quickly encased the fairy. Link picked up the bubble gently within his hands as if it were but a ball. Tatl inside the bubble began beating on the walls of her circular prison, but she merely bounced off the bubble, leaving no room for effort in pushing against her prison to pop it. In such a small area, she had no way to gain any sort of momentum to ram into it like she had done to Link two times now.

"Alright, **_Tatl…_** What did Skull Kid do to Epona?" Link demanded in a dangerous sounding tone.

"E-Epona?" The little fairy whimpered.

"Epona is the name of my horse... Now what is it that you guys have done to her!?"

" _Hmph!_ Don’t know a thing~!"

Link glared at the smug fairy, before soon lifting the bubble up to his mouth, he began pushing the bubble inside. Tatl soon began dinging like a bell and shouting almost incoherently.

" _UWAGHHH!! NONONONOO--OOO!! PLEASE NO!! I’LL TALK I’LL TALK JUSTDONTEATME **PLEASE!!!**_ "

Link pulled the bubble back out of his mouth, looking at the fairy that was now shaken and visibly afraid of him. Her wings were folded back and she had shrunken herself as far into the bubble as she could. Link tried to harden his heart to not feel sorry for her; not after what she assisted in doing to him. She would have to do a lot for him to forgive her; Link swore in the forest he wouldn't forgive the three of them and that oath still stood.

"I’ll ask again; what did he do to Epona…?"

"Skull Kid just made her disappear… Probably sent her somewhere…"

" **Where** did he send her?!"

"Please!" She shrieked, visibly quivering inside the bubble. "I don’t know! I really mean it! I seriously don't know! Sk-Skull Kid never has acted like this before! He's always done pranks on people before, even before me and Tael met him, but not like this! Honest!!"

" _Tch...!_ " Link let out in both disgust and annoyance. "You act so innocent, but you were laughing at me the whole time... don't think for a moment I'm going to go easy on you." He warned before he took a moment to give himself a moment to calm down, which he assisted himself by taking in a deep breath and exhaling it outwards.

"Well, let's talk about something we're _both_ interested in; how do we get out of here?" Link questioned.

Tatl seemed to hesitate for a moment. But after a few seconds pause, she said "That Deku flower… it’s not actually real… Skull Kid put that there himself. Just pull out the flower…"

"So that’s why it had conveniently “grown” there, huh…"

Link walked -- or waddled, over to the flower, putting Tatl down in her bubble encasing. She squeaked a bit as it slightly rolled closer to a puddle of water. Link grabbed the flower by both hands and with a heave, pulled as hard as he could. He could tell in his Deku form, that he was a lot weaker physically. With the fact he was a lot smaller too made his suspicions that he was actually now a Deku Scrub feel true and not just in some form of costume that he couldn't get off. Along with that, he had obviously never been able to conjure up bubbles out of his mouth before. He was learning his newer body quickly though, as if he was learning how to ride horses again, except he had never done these things before. These new talents of his were coming by nothing more than a type of instinct, along with just some basic magic he knew. He was referring to it as an animal instinct. One he was aware of, but didn’t recognize. Thankfully though, at least his knowledge of magic, as basic and simple as it was, might be able to help him some how.

Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any instinct for any kind of strength and it took Link a lot of effort and time before the flower began to uproot out of the ground. The more it uprooted, the easier it pulled until finally it snapped out, sending Link rolling backwards into the puddle of water. He pushed himself up as he looked at where the flower had been, there was a small hole in the floor, big enough for him to comfortably fit through. Link turned to the trapped Tatl.

"You wouldn’t have been able to get out without my help, so don’t think you’re off the hook yet so easily…"

The fairy let out a weak whine. Link ignored her quiet plea, picking her up in the bubble, Link moved her to the hole, lighting up below. It was a short drop and he hopped down into it. It was small but large enough for him to stand and walk as long as he leaned down just a little bit. Tatl was a very useful light source as Link would have been blind in pitch-black darkness if it wasn’t for her.

The cave ended up getting narrower suddenly, and he was forced to crawl through a small hole, which to his relief lead out of a wall of sorts in a cave. There was a wider tunnel near him out of the wall he entered, and more open space of the cave, it seemed too big for Tatl’s little light to show. Her light looked bright and large in the narrow space, but now with a much bigger area it felt tiny. Link realized she only illuminated only a couple feet around him.

"Which way is the right way to go to get out of here?"

"Into the tunnel. We are almost out of here..."

Link looked at the fairy for a moment as if attempting to study her somehow to make sure she wasn’t lying. Of course, no features could really be seen with a glowing ball of light with translucent wings. Link moved where she instructed him to go.

Linked walk for minutes with the tunnel never seeming to end. He had been getting impatient and realized he had been walking faster. After of this though, his feet began to feel numb so he tried to relax and slow down his pace. Panic began to rush into though when the numbing feeling didn’t cease, and began to rapidly plague the rest of his body.

 _"_ _ _Wh-What’s happening to me...?__ _"_ He thought weakly, before his steps staggered, and he all but collapsed onto the floor. Link heard a faint sound, however, it was inside of his head rather then an ambient sound somewhere in the physical reality that he stood, his consciousness was lulled away by that faint sound in his head.

 

 

_Tick… Tock…_

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
Link opened his eyes, greeted by the sight of a bright blue sky in the mid-day sun. Spring warmth relaxed his muscles as he felt blades of grass tickle his arms and legs. Link slowly sat up from the ground. He looked around, noticing plains that went out as far as his eyes could see. He didn’t feel the weight of his equipment on his back. He turned his head to the left, and then the right, and let out a gasp of surprise. He saw Princess Zelda standing there a small distance away, her back turned to him.

"Z…Zelda?! Wh-Where are we? What am I doing here...? What are _you_ doing here?"

Zelda raised her head up to the sky, her hands holding her chest like she did when she was holding the Ocarina, however she didn’t have the Ocarina with her. Link walked up beside her, seeing a sad look on her face. She slightly turned her head to look at him. Her lips moved, but no voice called out. From the movement of her lips, Link knew she was calling his name; he had seen those lip movements many times when she called his name.

"What? I can’t hear your voice Zelda--..."

She didn’t give Link a chance to finish speaking. She softly grabbed both of his hands, and pressed them again his own chest with her own. Link could feel his own hastened heartbeat against his chest. He realized he was holding his breath and exhaled out and began to inhale slowly, trying to calm it.

Zelda gave a faint smile, feeling the rate of Link’s heartbeat become normal. She quickly reached over, giving Link a quick kiss on the cheek. He couldn’t help the color that flushed to his face in embarrassment, and his heart rate went up again. Zelda let out a silent giggle at Link’s reaction. Removing her hands from his chest, she reached back over to her own. She gave a nod with her smile, before her form soon faded away in seconds before Link could do anything. It left Link standing there with his own hands feeling his heart beat _._

__"I... I think I get it... as long as my heart beat is my own... it doesn't matter if my body has been changed. I'm still me..."_ _

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

__“ _WAKE UP, DAMN YOU!_ ” _ _

 

 

Link blinked in surprise before he felt a large pain inside of his head, as the plains he was in disappeared in an instant and he was laying down on the ground. His humanoid hands holding his chest were back to the Deku’s hands, and he rolled on the floor to sit himself up.

"If you're going to pass out, then at least don't let me suffocate in this _DAMN BUBBLE!_ " Tatl spat. "Ugh! I'm gonna need bath! I hate the sewage smell of the basement of the clock tower...!"

"T-Tower...?" Link asked.

Tatl didn’t seem to want to explain, as the fairy hissed at the boy. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! I'M SUFFOCATING! _DY-ING!_ " She complained, emphasizing both of the word's syllables. "YOU'VE TRAPPED ME IN HERE FOR HOURS!"

"Yes, yes, _fine!_ Maybe if you saved some oxygen by not yelling every few seconds!" Link sighed annoyed. His finger moved towards the bubble but he paused for a moment. "You fly off, and I WILL catch you again and I will _NOT_ let you go. I have other tricks to keep you contained. You don't want to find them." He threatened, but it was really just a bluff. He actually had no idea what other things he could do in this form.

 _Fine."_ Was all Tatl replied with. With a poke of his finger, he popped the bubble. Tatl shrieked a little from being startled by the sudden pop, however, Link watched her carefully and she didn't fly off, much to his genuine surprise.

"...Thank you."

Link narrowed his eyes at her somewhat suspiciously. "Yeah, you're welcome." He said in a tone that he didn't completely trust her yet. He wandered up some steps to another floor of the tower with Tatl following him. He pushed his way through giant wooden doors that was decorated with red and blue symbols Link couldn’t recognize. He squinted momentarily as bright torches illuminated around him in the night evening air. "…Wow…! This place is huge! I can’t tell which is bigger, Hyrule city or this!" Link exclaimed, awed, although Tatl was quick to interrupt his bewildered looking around.

"Yeah, yeah. You can be impressed later. Now listen, Skull Kid for sure came here, but I have no idea where he could actually be. BUT if I had to take a guess, he may have left the city. There are a few spots where he likes to play outside of the town. Let’s try going out the south gate, it’s directly ahead."

Link nodded, as much as he still despised her, she was right in that there was no time to be impressed now. Moving himself through the, oddly empty plaza of the town and walked his way to the gate where a guard stood. Link tried to walk casually towards the gate, before a hand soon reached out and stopped him, the guard blocking off his way through. "Sorry kid, you need to be with your parents before I let you out; wouldn’t want them to worry about you and wondering why you've been gobbled up by the monsters outside of the city, even if the situation right now is dire..."

"Parents? I don’t have any parents. I’m Link, the Hero of Time of Hyru-- _uaah!_ "

The guard picked Link up, and walked forwards a bit, putting him further away from the gate before settling him back down. "Yeah yeah, go beat those monsters up in... err... _'Hyroo'_ , little hero! But there are really scary ones outside, so just stay in the town until you meet up with your parents, alright?"

 _Bah!"_ Link sulked in his head annoyed. _"He doesn’t believe me... I can’t blame him; even I can hardly believe I’m a Deku Scrub still… If only I was still human..."_

He slowly walked off from the gate when he was put down. He leaned against a wall as he struggled to think of a way to maybe get out of the city. Tatl swooped by him. _"_ Hmm… It looks like you won’t be able to get out of the city while you’re in that getup…"

"And I just wonder who is at fault for that, huh?" Link asked sarcastically.

"Ehehehhh~… Well, _technically_ I didn’t do anything during the time where you fell down from the cave and Skull Kid transformed you. So not mine!"

Link just glowered at her. The urge to put her back in a bubble was rising.

"A-Anyways," Tatl began, detecting Link's glare. "The guards may be able to stop you, but they can’t stop me. Skull Kid may or may not be in the city. So how about you search and see if anyone has seen him inside the city, and I’ll look outside? We will cover more ground like that. I will meet you here an hour before midnight."

"Yeah, go ahead, you're just going to run off and not return." Link accused her, sighing.

"I will _not!_ "

"Why wouldn't you?"

"Hmph! Keep up that kind of attitude and maybe I just will! W-Whatever! I’m sick of talking to you! I'm going to look for Skull Kid, with or without your help, you ungrateful brat!"

Link watched her go, feeling suspicious of her; although not for reasons he had originally intended that he thought he couldn't trust her for. She seemed to be hiding something. Though, with not much else to do now, he could only look around the city to see if Skull Kid was indeed here.

 _"Ugh… I don’t even know where I should begin looking. I don’t even know the rest of the city… The layout seems to be a lot more confusing than Hyrule’s, although I suppose the tower sticks out, so getting back to this spot should be easy at least..."_  

Link looked up at the clock and realized it was a little after 8:30 P.M. according to the time on the clock. So according to Tatl, he had just under two and a half hours to try and scrounge up some type of info.

A low growl snapped Link out of his thoughts. He looked around slowly and spotted a dog growling at him. Normally the dog would have been smaller than Link, but in his Deku form, the canine was about the same size as he was. It barked angrily at Link and bared its teeth. He took a slow step back.

 _"_ _ _You are kidding me… I’ve fought countless monsters, some ten times the size that I was when I was a human as an_ _ _adult_ __, but as I am right now I won’t be able to even defend myself against a stray dog!_ "_

The child took another slow step back, but each step he took back, the dog took two more steps forwards. Eventually its tail stuck right up and Link leaped backwards out of the way right before it pounced where he was standing with teeth bared. Link broke off into a sprint towards the eastern side of town, trying to make the dog lose sight of him but it was right behind him. Link climbed up a series of steps as the dog bounded right after him, letting out threatening barks. Eventually Link dodged around a corner in an alleyway, and quickly hid himself behind a series of crates that were there. He heard the dog bound around the corner, but skid to a stop as it let out a few low growls as it tried to find Link.

The dog began sniffing at the ground, trying to pick up Link’s scent. He mentally groaned knowing he was going to be found just by smell alone. It was only a few seconds later that the dog began sprinting around the boxes. Link stood up and tried to sprint out of his hiding spot early before the dog had him pinned. The mammal lunged at Link, and he yelped out as he felt claws scrape the back of his left shoulder. He tripped and fell down on the floor, but quickly scrambled up using his right arm to do so. The dog pounced at him again and Link quickly spun around, bent his knees. The dog was about to land on top of him when Link positioned his feet under the dog’s stomach. It let out a surprise yelp as Link threw the dog with his feet over him, and it crashed on its side, letting out a sharp bark from the collision. Link quickly scrambled himself back up and began sprinting out the way he came from. He heard the claws of the dog scraping against the stone ground of the city behind him. As Link passed the crates, he swung his hand around, spilling some of them over the floor. They were about three-quarters of his size and the spilling of the crates stopped the dog for at least a few seconds which helped Link gain some distance.

Link soon spotted a Deku flower in the distance, and b-lined towards it. He quickly dived head first into the flower's opening, pulling the top of it apart to fit himself in it. The top quickly closed up once he was fully inside. He heard the dog barking, clawing at the flower outside, but unable to get in. The flower was considerably dark inside, and he couldn’t really make out anything. He panted quietly to himself as the dog kept this up for a good half an hour at least, possibly even longer, before it finally began becoming quiet outside.

"What a persistent little bastard he was… I can’t believe I spent so much time running for my life from a mere dog! What’s more annoying was that no one even seemed to notice! If this is a city, then where the hell _is_ everyone?! The only person I saw was that guard...!"

Link let out a depressed sigh. Gripping his scratched shoulder, he slowly began to work his way out of the flower. "What a day this is… Nearly burned alive in a stable, the Ocarina of Time gets stolen, I don’t even know where or what happened to Epona, I get turned into a Deku Scrub and then chased for nearnly an hour by a dog? For the love of Nayru, I’ve had _enough_ of this!!"

Link popped his head out of the flower, pulling his arms out, and then squeezing the rest of his body out. He was about to stand up when he heard yet another low growl behind him. He froze instantly at the sound. 

"...You aren’t kidding, are you..."

The dog let out a piercing bark as if responding to Link teasing it. Link didn't have enough time to spin around as the dog tackled him in the back pinning him to the ground face down. He felt the warm breath of the dog on him as it growled. One of its paws rose, claws extending sending a slash to Link’s head. Link rolled his head after a quick glance back to see the attack coming, but it still scraped the right side of his cheek. Another claw lifted and--

"Get off of him! Get out of here dog! _Shoo!_ _Shoo!_ "

The creature whined, quickly releasing off of Link as a rock went flying towards it and managed to pelt it in the side. It bounded quickly off of Link, returning to the center of town. Link blinked as he looked up at the night sky. His eyes were widened with absolute sheer terror at what he saw up in the air.

_"Wh… What in Farore’s grace is that… **thing** floating above the town…? Is that… the moon?! _

His vision of the object was interrupted by a woman’s face that blocked it from view. She had pink hair that was just above the shoulders, as well as deep brown eyes. She was holding a pink parasol in one hand decorated with the white outlines of flowers. She stared down at Link, kneeling down to get a closer look at him.

"Oh dear, that dog roughed you up really badly it would seem. I will patch you up right away. It doesn't hurt too much, does it?"

Link slowly sat upright, unable to burn the image of the object he had seen out of his mind, but he tried to answer as calmly as he could despite what he had seen, at least, this girl didn't seem to have paid any attention to it at all... "Th-Thank you, but I will be alright..."

"But if I don’t treat your wounds, you could become infected! That was a stray dog that attacked you, who knows what kind of places it has been!"

She didn’t even give Link time to protest before she picked him up. Link blinked a little before mentally sighing. He was young, but he was not helpless… in a way. He was getting tired of being picked up by people without his consent. Then again, maybe this young lady could answer at least one thing…

That moon...

"My name is Anju, I run the Stock Pot Inn in town with my mother. I was going there to close up for the night and was running late before I saw you. What a relief that I made it in time. So why are you here? Are you here to see the carnival with your parents? Where are they anyways, did you get yourself lost? Oh, here we are."

Link’s head spun a bit with being flooded with so many questions without even getting a single second to respond to any of them. He quickly glanced at the tower as Anju opened the door to the inn, which felt more comfortable then the cool night air. It was 10:12 P.M. He had wasted a lot of time already just being chased. Time was moving faster than he wished...

"Anju, what is that you’ve got there?"

Link looked to his left as he saw an older woman staring at the counter with the same hair color as Anju. albeit a bit more on the red side than pink Anju's pink.

"A lost Deku boy I found outside the Inn mother. That stray dog has gotten at him too. Can you please bring the medical kit into my room? I need to treat a few scratches he’s gotten to make sure they don’t become infected."

"Anju, infections will be the least of his worries. We need to evacuate to Romani Ranch dear. We can barely afford staying here for much more than a few minutes!"

"We can’t mother! As long as we have guests staying here, we can't just leave them."

"You are thinking about Kafei again, aren’t you? Hun, waiting for Kafei won’t do any good if that thing crushes the city and you are under it! I bet you were looking for him and that's why you were so late..."

Link looked back and forth between the two as each one exchanged words, although Anju’s mother reached in the counter of the Inn and handed her a bag. Anju just let out a soft sigh, before climbing up some stairs carrying Link in her arms.

"I’m sorry you had to listen to that, Deku boy…" Anju sighed.

She opened up a door, which Link assumed was her room. She seated Link on a bed, as she placed the bag down near her and began rummaging through it. Link looked behind him through a window, where he could see the Clock Tower, but he couldn’t see the time; he was looking at the side of the tower. He was not in front of it enough to see what time it was. What he could see though, was the giant moon that seemed to be hovering over top of the tower...

Was it... getting bigger...?

No, that wasn't it. It looked like... it was coming closer...!

Link glanced at Anju who just found what she had been looking for. It was a bottle of some kind and a cloth. She opened the cap of the bottle and poured some clear liquid into the cloth. As Link watched her, he could see a heavy kind of weariness in her eyes. She was masking some kind of emotional pain...

"Um… Miss Anju? Is this Hyrule?"

"Eh?" She let out, confused by the question that seemed to her very, very odd. "Hyrule? I’ve never heard of Hyrule before. This is Termina, Clock Town of Termina…"

 _"_ __Never heard of Hyrule…? I never heard of a place called Termina, ever… I was in Hyrule before I entered the forest… We didn’t travel that far, surely… What is going on here?_ "_

"Hold on, this may sting really bad at first. Try to hold still." Anju said, interrupting Link's thoughts. She placed the cloth over Link’s face and he jerked his foot in place of trying to jerk his head away so he didn’t move away from the cloth. He squeezed his eyes shut, as the wet cloth against the scratch on his face burned intensely. It was far more manageable over time that he was soon able to open his eyes however and look back at Anju again.

"What about that moon hovering over the town…?" Link asked.

"You sure have a funny way of speaking 'that moon'." She smiled slightly, not meaning it in an insulting way.  
She rummaged more into her bag, pulling out a Band-Aid from it. She began putting it on the scratch on Link’s cheek. She looked out the window in response to his question, before looking back to him. She didn’t speak until she was sure the Band-Aid was placed on right.

"Although, I suppose it is odd, that the moon has been coming closer... people have panicked in fled the town. It looks like it might fall on top of the town tonight..."

 _"_ _… _No way… What have I gotten myself in to…?!"__   Link thought to himself in horror.

"Today is supposed to be the day of the carnival. Rumors are that the carnival will go on. Some believe the moon will fall, while others don’t. The town is split between both of the sides of people who are evacuating and others who are going on with the carnival."

"But why won’t you evacuate? Is it because of this Kafei guy? Is he your boyfriend?"

Anju couldn’t help but laugh a little at Link’s response. Her face blushed a little bit, apparently memories of this 'Kafei' resurfacing making her heart warm in response. "We were supposed to be married tomorrow morning, the day after the carnival, but… he’s been missing for a month now. He promised that we would get married no matter what… I don’t want to evacuate because I believe he will come, but I’m scared… What if he does come but I evacuate?"

"He’ll come! If you two really love each other that much, then nothing can get in the way of it. Love is an invaluable emotion that should always be treasured."

Link then realized what he was saying, and was for once, fortunate he had the body of a Deku, for he would be very red from blushing in embarrassment right now. He quickly added: "Th-That's what my -- um... grandfather told me once..." His 'grandfather' who he was actually mentioning was the Deku Tree, who in a way, kind of was like a grandfather.

"Your grandfather must be very wise…" Anju praised, although that tore Link' heart a little, since the Deku Tree had passed away the day he left on his journey initially to save Hyrule. "I feel the same way," Anju continued, "but mother keeps pressuring me otherwise… I of course, cannot blame her… Most of the town’s folk have evacuated… she is afraid for us."

Link glanced back at the window, staring back at the looming moon. Something felt off about it... What was even more disturbing about it was the fact it actually had a face. Bright red eyes which dimmed to yellow on the edges stared down at the town below it with inky jet-black pupils. It had teeth bared in anger… Link was prefixed on the eyes... and then a realization came to him. The eyes looked to be the _exact_ same as the eyes on the mask. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. That wasn’t _the_ moon, surely. It was _a_ moon.

Skull Kid had the ability to create an entire moon…? Did anybody else see the face, or just him...? From the way Anju spoke earlier, it could be potentially that way... but maybe it always had a face and that was just normal to the people of this... 'Termina' he found himself now in.

 _"D_ _ _amn that bastard! That Skull Kid...! This really is just a game to him! He’s going to crash the moon into the town on the night of the carnival just because he finds it funny...?!_ "_

Link suddenly yelped out in pain, bringing him out of his angry thoughts as a large sting went upon his shoulder. It was Anju treating it. At the very least, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as he felt on his face the first time and managed not to jerk it away, despite the unpleasant surprise. "I’m sorry. I guess I should have warned you to brace yourself." Anju apologized sincerely.

"Oh, no, it’s okay…" Link breathed, trying not to wince. _"That really hurt..."_

Anju applied the bandage to his shoulder after cleaning up the wound with the cloth. Link swore however that he heard a slight tapping sound from behind him. He turned around, but saw nothing there. He mentally shrugged it off and couldn’t resist himself to stare at the moon again for a third time...

"Do you really think that thing will fall…?" Link asked solemnly.

"To be honest, I do… but there is not much we can do… We can only pray that the four guardians will come to our aid if that is the case…" Anju answered.

 _"_ _ _Four guardians? Like Hyrule's three goddesses, maybe?_ "_ Link pondered to himself in thought.

Link soon saw something in the reflection of the window. He stared hard at it, even though he realized what it was. He was paralyzed. He recognized that reflection clear as day. He shivered -- and it was from fear. He slowly turned around to face towards Anju, who gave a confused look at the way Link was looking at her. Link wasn’t actually looking at her… rather he was looking behind her.  Skull Kid.  When Skull Kid began speaking, Anju shrieked quickly in surprise, spinning herself to stare at the freakish little Scarecrow that had invaded her room.

"Oh, it will fall. Believe me… it’s going to crash into this town in about maybe… six or seven hours... give or take, _Heehee~_ This will be one **helluva** of a carnival to remember... wouldn't you agree?!"

"You’re that creature everyone has been talking about… You’re that little “demon” grandmother was referring to!"Anju cried out, mostly in surprise although there was a little bit of fear in her tone as well.

"Why are you trying to crash the moon into the town?!" Link shouted. "What would you possibly gain from doing something like this?! Is this just a game to you? Do you know how many people are going to _die?!_ " Anju stared at Link, almost in disbelief as she spoke. "You mean to say that the moon is falling because of _him...?_ "

"Are you calling me heartless?" Skull Kid asked in a hurt tone of voice, but it quickly turned into one of viscous venom. "Our viewpoints on the matter differ..." He let out light cackle to himself, before he tilted his head left, then right, various times, looking over at Link. "Let’s play a little game, shall we?! When it reaches midnight, the stairs to the top of the tower will open up. You will find me up there. If you don’t want me to crush the town, then all you have to do is stop me. That’s all you need to do… sounds simple, right? _Hehee~_ _Good luck, fool!"_

Link narrowed his eyes at the challenge. "Why you...! Don't underestimate me, Skill Kid...!"

Skull Kid levitated off of the floor by a couple inches, before rushing right at them. Link dived at Anju to push her down out of the way, who gave a shriek as the glass broke and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Link heard Skull Kid’s hyena-like laugh as he flew off into the night. Link shook as anger took control of him. He quickly pushed himself off of the bed and following Skull Kid, leaping himself through the broken window, where he landed on the the higher ground floor of Clock Town. He heard Anju calling to him, but he didn’t stop and headed for the center of town.

It took Link several minutes to get there. When he did, nobody seemed to be in the center of town still just like a few hours ago, it was completely empty. Link looked around and quickly spotted an orb of light in the air. "Tatl! _Tatl!!_ " He shouted as he sprinted towards the source of the light. She seemed to have heard him, and quickly zipped her way to meet up with him.

"Did you see him?! He flew up on top of the clock tower!" Tatl rung, bouncing up and down wildly.

"Yeah, we kinda had a little chat...!" He said in a bit of a sarcastic tone, beckoning her to follow him as he went off into his little sprint. "He plans to crush the entire town with the moon! I can’t believe we didn’t even notice something that big hovering over us before!"

"Me neither...! I didn't even leave for five minutes before I noticed it and came back to tell you, but you were already gone and I was looking all over for you!"

Just as she finished speaking, the clock tower ring out loudly into the night air as it reached midnight. Fireworks began shooting out from the tower, crackling in the sky. If it wasn’t for the sight of the ugly moon looming over the entire town, cloaking it in a dark shadow, it would have been a pretty sight to look at. The middle of the clock tower began to rise up as the fireworks shot up from the tall structure. The middle soon toppled over towards the north, banging against a rim to stop it from falling off completely. The clock itself that had been telling the time had fallen over on its side, and was now the top of the tower. Along with that, a door in the middle of the structure had opened up. A ramp of stairs lead up to it and Link sprinted towards it as fast as he could. He went inside the tower, scrambling up the soon spiraling stairs. Tatl followed behind him, lighting up the steps for him. It wasn’t long until he reached the very top, where he saw Skull Kid hovering in the air, his back turned to him as he looked up at the moon. Tael too, was also there by his side. The younger fairy turned around, and let out a chime of his own at the sight of seeing the two of them.

" _Sis...!_ "

"Tael! Get away from Skull Kid, _right now!"_ Tatl warned her younger brother.

The fairy didn’t respond to his sister at all, despite how happy he seemed to be to see her. Skull Kid soon turned around now. Link grunted in anger as he saw Skull Kid holding the Ocarina of Time. He was spinning the instrument with his finger tip, like it was a simple replaceable toy instead of a fragile instrument. The sight of that sickened him to his stomach.

" _ _I swear, when I get that Ocarina back, he is **not** going to get **any** mercy from me…!_ "_

 

"Hmmm… You do realize how funny this is, right?" Skull Kid mused in a thoughtful tone. "You may as well have just offered your own head to me on a silver platter. Oh, or maybe you're doing that _right now?_ "

"You should have just finished me off when you had the chance! You will regret it, I will make _sure_ of it!"

"Oh… I didn’t know you had _such_ an odd sense of humor! But if I did finish you off fool, then it wouldn’t be very fun, now would it?"

"At least my sense of humor isn’t nearly as twisted as your sense of fun...!" Link seethed.

 

"Sis!"

Tael had rung again, everyone looked at the darker fairy that had randomly spoken out to her sister again. He flew away from Skull Kid as he spoke quickly, his words almost too fast to make much sense. " _Swamp, Mountain, Ocean_ and _Canyon_. Bring the four who are there here--"

Tael was interrupted from a scream that emitted from Skull Kid that didn’t even sound anything remotely close to human. The levitating scarecrow rushed up to Tael, back-handing him so hard that he cried out in pain, sprawling several feet in the air before being able to catch himself with his wings. " _SHUT… **UP.** Stupid fairy!_" Skull Kid warned.

 

 _"NOOO!!_ " Tatl screamed in horror at seeing her brother physically abused in such a way. "What are you doing to my brother?! Do you think we will stay as your friends for doing something like _this?!"_

 _"_ _Hah _hahahaha...!_ Well… It doesn’t matter much now anyways." _Skull Kid chuckled manically. _"_ Even if you _could_ bring them here in time, all four of them together are _still_ no match for me… I already took care of them all anyways... so good luck trying! HEEHEE _HEEHEE **HEE!!**_ "

 _"This is ridiculous... every time I see him, he becomes more insane the last time I met him...! He's literally going mad from the power he's gotten from that mask!"_ Link observed in growing concern. _"The four guardians… so they aren’t just rumor according to Anju... They actually do exist, but Skull Kid already ‘took care of them’? Is that why they haven’t come yet, because they can’t?! How am I going to stand up to something like that when I’m just like this by myself?! I don't even have my sword and shield in this form!"_

Link looked up as Skull Kid turned towards the moon. He held his hands up, while still holding the Ocarina of Time in his right hand. He began shouting towards the moon.

 

 

“ _COME, GRANT MY WISH MASK! DEVOUR ALL THE SELFISH PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! CONSUME THEM ALL!!”_

 **_“COME CLOSER!! COOOOME!!!_ ** **"**

 

 

As if responding to Skull Kid’s call, the entire planet seemed to shake, Link stumbled on his legs, nearly losing his balance as he stood on top of the Clock Tower. "Wh... What's happening...?!" Tatl rang out in a high pitched tone of worry. Link's stomach felt like it was doing flip-flops on him as he looked up, the moon was falling towards them -- _fast!_ It would be upon them within minutes. Skull Kid let out a shrill hyena-like laugh, staring up at the giant large rock plummeting towards him. In his eyes, the entire sight was beautiful...

 

 

_"YES! **YESSS!!** That’s it! Everything! DEVOUR EVERYTHING!!!"_

 

 

H-Hey kid! Do _something!"_ Tatl shrieked at Link in panic.

"W-What can I do?! Even in my normal form, I can’t stand up to this let alone... how could I as I am now!?"

" _Argh!!_ " Tatl shrieked in frustration. "We -- We need time to think! We need more time!!"

 

_Time..._

 

Link soon had a brain wave. His eyes locked upon the Ocarina of Time that was in Skull Kid’s hand still. He quickly inhaled as deep as he could, then slowly exhaled... a bubble began forming in the hollow trunk of his mouth. When it was large, enough he spat it out towards Skull Kid.

The Scarecrow let out a surprised yelp at being splashed with sticky water, dropping the Ocarina from his hands in his surprise, having been paying too much attention trying to summon the moon down. Link quickly ran and dived for the Ocarina, catching it just before it crashed onto the floor. He let out a sigh of relief. He finally had it back… He had the Ocarina of Time back...

"…Ewww… _EWWWW!!_ What the hell did you just spit on me?! Yuck! I should have turned you into a bullfrog instead… you _disgusting bug!"_

Link ignored Skull Kid. He placed the Ocarina next to the hollow trunk that was his mouth. Playing this thing would be tricky... After all, he never played the Ocarina as a Deku Scrub before... He inhaled to get ready to play the first no--

"…What the **_HELL_** ARE YOU DOING?!" Tatl shrieked at him in his ear. "THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN PLAYING YOUR OCARINA--!!"

"Be **QUIET.** I need to concentrate for this!"

"Great, JUST--"

"Shut **UP** Tatl!!"

When the fairy spoke no more -- maybe from being stunned into silence, Link closed his eyes and tried blowing softly into the Ocarina. To his relief, he managed to produce a sharp, but reasonable sounding note. He played slowly, the notes going into the air. He was playing the Song of Time into the Ocarina. His hands were shaking from the pressure that was on him with the moon that loomed ahead; aside from the actual ground and tower beginning to shake. The fact messing up one note like this would mean resetting the entire song if the slightest mistake was made.

Link however finished and pulled the Ocarina away from his mouth. He soon looked up at the sky and shouted out.

 

 

" _Goddess of Time! I am the Hero of Time, I amLink! Please hear my plea; revert time back! Time needs to be changed or it will cease to exist in the land of Termina! We need more time! We need time to revert the wrong that has been done on this land! Please, Goddess!!"_

__

 

Link now could only just pray that his message would be heard. Though of course, his prayer was heard by Skull Kid who began hooting out loudly in laughter. " _HAHAHAHAHAH!!_ Wow…! You really must be at your wits end if you are pleading to the--"

Skull Kid suddenly stopped talking. Link looked at him, before he began talking again.

 " _HAHAHAHAHAH!!_ Wow…! You really must be at--"

Link blinked slowly. He looked at Tatl, who looked at him, just as confused as he was. Then something in the air seemed to have spiked...

 

 

" _...Everything! DEVOUR EVERYTH_ \--"

 

    

"...Bring the four who--" They both heard Tael say before abruptly being cut off by another spike in the air...

 

"It… It’s working! She heard my plea! The Goddess of Time...! She is actually beginning to revert time backwards...!" Link let out in a huge relief. "Thank you, Goddess of time...! I can't express our gratitude enough!!"

"The... _W-What?!_ You -- How--?!" Tatl could only let out, completely stunned.

Tatl and Link continued to watch only little snippets of events that happened on the clock tower for only a few seconds, before Link began to feel a strange numbness take over him... He felt like he knew what it was.

 

They were going backwards in time...

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why, but the site just did not want to format this chapter properly. I spent more time trying to get the formatting to appear properly than I think I actually spent trying to write this chapter -- and I don't think I got them all even (Trust me, I spent a LONG time... even pulled a few hairs in frustration).
> 
> I dearly hope this doesn't become a reoccurring issue. I've had an issue before in the previous two chapters thus far -- but not to the point where the damage was spreading like a virus or parasite; the entire chapter was becoming more and more unreadable the more I tried to fix it, until I had decided to slave down, erase all formatting and add it line by line, word for word, in HTML all over again; which even that only worked half the time. So not only did I have to do it once, but I'm pretty sure I messed up some lines somewhere, so I had to go through it all twice...
> 
> If there -is- any formatting issues that damage your reader experience, I sincerely apologize. Just please know that I freakin' TRIED.


	4. Chapter 3: Mission Proceeds; Swamp Fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Tatl have found themselves back inside the clock tower, with the objective to investigate the effects of what going back in time has done as well as going out to their first destination outside of town. But before they can do that, a rather suspicious fellow is inside the clock tower with them...

 

 

 

 ** _"I don't know what to do for him anymore, Mido. I've tried, and tried again. But you just don't seem to want to change. You're just set on hating me..."_**  
  
**_"Why SHOULDN'T I hate you?! It's you're fault that--"_**  
  
_**"Mido. For the last time, it wasn't me who killed the Deku Tree.... I'd never do such a thing. The Deku Tree has taken care of me ever since my mother passed away in the forest; pleading for him to protect me until I grow up... I may not be a Kokiri as much as I want to be one, Mido, but I loved the Deku Tree just as much as any of you guys did!**_  
_**You've got to learn to eventually let go Mido... You're frozen in time... Blaming me for the Deku Tree's death won't save you from that. I know, and you know, as everyone else that I didn't kill the Deku Tree."**_  
  
**_"How dare you lecture ME about being 'frozen' in time... That's why you're leaving everyone to search for Navi, huh?! How can you tell me forget someone I love when you can't either?!"_**  
  
**_"W-What...? B-But... I..."_**

__

__

__

__

 

Link opened his eyes as he felt the numbing sensation slowly fade out from his body. When he reopened his eyes again, he was surprised when he no longer saw that he was outside. Instead, he was inside of the clock tower once again. He groaned as he slowly pushed himself up. His head was still spinning, and he blinked wearily to clear his double vision.

"You… You… What did you just do?! Wait a minute, you’re…"

Tatl's words were echoing somewhat in his head. He hope this side effect wouldn't last for too long, though a small price to pay for the magic that was just done, he reasoned. Slowly, he brought his hand up to clutch his forehead to thin out the painful throbbing.

"I just bought us time… I think… W...Wait..." He stared in disbelief at his arm. "...Wait a minute...!"

He slowly pulled his hands in front of his face; he moved and wiggled his fingers. He let out a shaky gasp. He saw his hands -- his _human_ hands. He then looked down at the rest of his body. He felt his arms in shock. He patted the familiar green tunic. He brushed his blonde strands of hair to feel that they weren’t like leaves anymore. He moved his tongue inside of his mouth, able to actually do so now. He shook his back, feeling the clinging of his sword and shield together.

"I... uh... I--"

He then quickly bolted himself up, turned his back to Tatl, and faced the stone wall. The fairy watched the boy looking down, before letting out a loud ring as Link undid his belt, lifted his tunic at the front, revealing his green shorts before the shorts dropped a bit, most prominently from the front as Link stared down on the inside.

" _HELLO-OO!!_ I happen to be RIGHT here just to let you know!" Tatl spat out in disgust. "Just _what_ are you looking for in there anyways?!"

Link ignored her as he grinned from ear to ear, letting out little giggles of childish excitement. He quickly snapped his shorts back into place, dropped his tunic and redid the belt as he turned around looking at Tatl, beaming. " _Yes! YES!!_ I'm back to normal!!"

" _Oh really?!_ I could have told you that!!"

"OH CRAP! The moon! Did time revert?!"

" ** _WHAT?!_** You mean you was just taking a _guess?!_ "

Link quickly began sprinting his way up the steps towards the door as Tatl in a panic flew towards it, though both flinched and let out startled squeaks of surprise as they heard a hearty chuckle behind them, but loud enough to announce the presence of someone new. Link nearly fell flat on his face against the steps and waved his arms in an attempt to regain his balance, before he quickly spun around with Tatl, who quickly hid behind Link's back, peeking out from behind.

"…Who are you?" Link demanded cautiously.

The figure was a tall slender man dressed in a blue vest, but was covered over a slim purple coat. His pants were of matching color as he wore leather brown shoes. He was hunched over due to a giant pack that was strapped on his back, which was a bag lined up with several masks. The man had short, fine brown hair. His hands were folded up in front of him, fiddling with his fingers in a strange way that made Link feel a little uneasy. His back was hunched over so much due to the weight of the pack, over his otherwise slim body that it looked like normally there was no way he would possibly be able to hold that much weight. The man was unconsciously rubbing his hands, as if he was cleaning them while he looked at Link.

"You had met with a terrible fate, haven't you? But it seemed through your own strength, you was able to thwart off the evil curse that had beheld you. I am impressed." The man praised, letting out another soft hearty chuckle.

"I’m not going to ask again. _Who_ are you?" Link demanded again in a bit more of a stern tone this time. Rather, the man's everlasting grin only widened in response. "I am a traveling peddler who goes around selling masks that have been waiting for the right person to take them in. I am often referred to the _Happy Mask Salesman_ , and you may call me as such..." He clucked his tongue thoughtfully, looking Link over before he continued. "Ah, forgive me for seeming rude, but I have been following you…"

"Following me? Why?"

"You see the mask that the imp has… that mask was mine until he stole it from me. It is a sacred, evil mask. That imp will misuse its powers, and a terrible calamity will happen if we don’t get that mask back from him." And the man was _still_ grinning, even as he said this. Link felt right to keep talking to him from this distance.

"You know about that mask? What is it? How can a mask have that much power in it? I find myself shivering half the time in fear just from how much power it has..." Link admitted. If this man knew anything about the mask, maybe it could help him in some way. After all, sometimes the knowledge of something was potentially the best tool... 

"Ah yes, even when I got the mask, which I went through many great lengths to obtain, I could feel that sense of omen from inside it. The kind that makes your hairs stand on end..."

"And knowing how evil it was, you decided to take it for yourself...?" Link asked in a tone that expressed his distaste.

"That mask was made a very long time ago… far back in ancient civilizations. The mask had so much dreadful power, that the people of that time sealed the mask away using hexing rituals to prevent any misuse… It has the power to grant wishes to the wearer, but these wishes never come for the greater good." The salesman explained.

"What is it that Skull Kid could possibly be wishing for then…?" Tatl mumbled in thought.

"…I don’t know but the mask seems to be corrupting him somehow…" Link replied to her thought. "Even already since the first time I met him from the forest until err..." He glanced at the Mask Salesman for a moment, not sure how he could explain the fact they both had just come back from apocalyptic destruction through time travel "...our... last encounter," Link salvaged, "he’s becoming more and more lost within the mask's power." Link thought himself for a moment, before glancing towards the salesman. "So the mask is special and has a conscious of its own?"

"Oh yes. Even when I was holding it in my hands, I could feel the evil presence inside the mask. I could feel the mask telling me to put it on, but I refused it’s call, of course."

"If it’s so evil, then why did you have it if it could create such problems?" Link accused once again. He smirked mentally when the man's ever eternal grin faltered somewhat.

"W-Well… The civilization is long gone now, nothing was watching over the mask! I thought I could keep it safe from others… I went through great lengths trying to get that mask, and when I did, I only had it stolen days later by that _Imp!_ "

"Yeah, only after you told him it was a super rare mask with unbelievable power that could grant wishes! Great job protecting it, bub." Tatl responded with thick sarcasm in his voice, quickly ducking behind Link again, to which the boy quirked a questionable eyebrow at her, but said nothing. "N-Nothing! Sorry! Don’t mind me..." She whispered in a tiny voice.

Said eyebrow tilted its angle to somehow look from questioning to one reeling with suspicion until Link pulled his glare at the fairy away and shook his head. "...One of you is greedy and the other one hides everything from me. I don’t know why I am bothering to trust either of you two right now!" Link growled, as he turned back towards the man. "What is it that you want from me anyways?"

"It’s simple. Since you are going after that Imp anyways, I just want you to recover the mask and bring it back to me. That’s all."

 " _Wh--?!_ " Link went out, nearly losing his balance at the man making the request as if it was nothing but a small favor. "Talk about easier said than done!" He retaliated as he regained his footing. "Besides! I don’t recall _ever_ saying I was going to do that! I just wanted my Ocarina back and wanted the little bastard to change me back from a Deku Scrub! As of right now, I need to go find my horse before something terrible happens to her! She's not a wild horse, she doesn't know how to live in the wilderness! Malon would _kill_ me if something were to happen to Epona!"

" _What?!_ What are _we_ going to do then?!" Tatl shrieked at him, unveiling herself from hiding behind his back.

"Tatl, you helped your so-called ‘friend’ attacked me, stole my horse, stole my ocarina and further more, transformed me into a Deku Scrub! If anything, this is all _both_ of your guys’ fault! Why am I inclined to do _anything_? I don't want to get involved in any of this! I just want to find my horse and friend!"

 "I could care less about Skull Kid or even the town being crushed by the moon for that matter! But I can’t _stand_ the thought of my brother being with Skull Kid with how he is now! The thought of him getting hit by Skull Kid over and over again is hard enough for me! We’ll make it up to you somehow if that’s how you really feel, just _please_ help save my little brother! _Please!!_ " She begged.

Link stared at the white fairy for a few moments, thinking over about what she had said. For the little... _witch_ that she was before, this was a kind of side of her he hadn't seen yet. Eventually, the child held out his hand for her. She landed on it softly, looking up at Link hopefully, even though no expression of her features could be seen through the light she emitted.

"…You’re a good older sister, Tatl"

Link sighed as he shook his head, closed his eyes and groaned in preparation of what he was about to do. "I'm going to regret saying it... but _fine_ , I'll do it... Don’t expect much though, I don’t know how to stop that thing yet, let alone if it is even possible."

"...Well, I have an idea, so I will tell you about it on the way out." Tatl said, almost in a bewildered tone as if she still couldn't believe Link actually accepted the role he just took, despite her demanding and begging.

"It brings me indescribable relief and joy to hear you say that." The Mask Salesman spoke out suddenly, causing both Link and Tatl to be startled a little as Link's eyes flew open. "Just believe in your strengths. Believe, and surely you will do fine!  
"…You do, after all, possess the Tri-force of Courage and the Ocarina of Time. Have faith!"

 _"What...?!_ "

Link widened his eyes when he heard the man mention both the Tri-force, and the Ocarina of Time. He stiffened his body straight as he stared hard at the man. "What the--?! How do you know about the Ocarina _and_ the Tri-force piece I have?!"

Link waited for an answer, but he shifted in surprise as the man took a step back, and oddly enough, began simply fading away into the air.

"Hey! Wait a minute dammit! _Answer me!"_  

"Believe in your strengths, _Hero of Time!_ Believe!"

Link dashed back down the stairs towards the man. He reached out with his hands to try and grab him, but his hand just fazed through the translucent apparition of him. It was only seconds later he was gone completely from view. Link stared bewildered at where the man just was, as Tatl flew by his side. "I don’t understand, what was all of that about...?" She asked. Although Link was too lost in his racing thoughts to answer he at the moment...

 

_"…Where is he from? If he knows so much about current rumors going on in Hyrule then… He knows about the Ocarina of Time… He knows the fact that I just used it, he knows how much power it possess. Only Zelda, the other six sages and I know about the power the Ocarina has, aside from Ganondorf who's locked away... Everyone else just knows that it is a key to the Temple of Time and aside from being a treasure to that of the Royal Family, not much else to the general public is known... So how does that man know? Just who was he?"_

__

Link blinked when he heard Tatl shouting at him, making him rouse out of his thoughts. He only glanced at her, before looking back where the man had just been.

 

" _…Well… If he wants the mask back that badly, he will have no choice but to see me again. And I don’t plan to hand it back over to him until he tells me what is _\--__ **Ouch!!** "

 

Link held the back of his head tightly with both hands at the sudden rush of pain that surged in that area. He gritted his teeth, before spinning to glare at Tatl. "You know, for someone who just begged desperately for my help, you're being very inconsiderate!"

"Oh, sorry!" She let out in mock apology. "I suppose you didn’t realize that we are absolutely _pressed_ for time here. I’ve been shouting at you but you just stood there, ignored me, and went back to thinking! How long do you believe we have before we have to face that giant rock head to head again? We haven’t even checked out the _door_ yet. Whatever is on your mind kid can wait, okay? At worst, think _while_ walking!"

Link kept his teeth clenched, as he let out a growl of anger. Deep down though he knew Tatl was right; he just wished she had a more... appropriate way of expressing it. Worrying about the man could indeed wait until later though. Right now, the main objective was to find a way to stop that moon. Link began walking, but before he even took his first step, his foot kicked something and it skidded across the ground. His eyes snapped down to look at the object that made the noise. His eyes widened apprehensively.

"A... Deku mask...?" Tatl questioned.

"That... wasn't here before... it must have appeared after that man left...?" Link suggested, as he bent down to pick it up. He turned it over to examine it and it only took a second to realize that the mask had the exact same appearance with how he looked like when Skull Kid forced his transformation. Out of all things most sane people would probably do, he soon began tucking the mask safely inside his tunic.

" _You're keeping it?!_ Geez kid, are you nuts?!" Tatl squeaked in surprise.

"I have a hunch on something, but I’m too reluctant to try it out right now… Let’s just say it may be handy later." Link explained.

"Kid, I hope falling of your horse hasn’t given you a case of brain damage…"

"If it did, then I’m holding you accountable for it. By the way, for the record Tatl, my name is Link, not 'kid'..."

Link stepped back up the steps and pushed the doors open from the clock tower. Like last time, the town was quiet as it was rather dark outside, but the sky held a dark dim of blue and pink to show that it was early dawn and that the sun had not risen yet; There were still the sounds of hammers and construction going on however and he could see people working on some tower in front of him. Link soon looked straight up. He saw it; that accursed moon hovering above the town. However, to his relief, it was smaller, _much_ smaller. It was high in the air, but far bigger than any moon should have been...

"…How long do you think we even have? Unless that thing falls extremely fast, it will take more than a day for sure." Tatl said.

"It’s to fall on the day of the carnival… We could ask someone for the date, but I don’t think it matters. We have what we have, whether we know or not… Personally judging from the distance and the rate it was falling before when I looked out of the Stock Pot Inn window… we... only have three days..."

"...You are kidding, right? Even if we didn’t sleep that only gives us seventy-two hours!"

"I guess we aren’t sleeping then." Link stated in a sigh. Not unless we have spare time left over. I don’t think that will be the case though..." He said as he clenched his teeth in annoyance and sighed. "Dammit... if only I still had Epona... We could get to places much faster."

Link lowered his gaze from the moon, checking the time on the clock. He needn’t check the time however as the tower erupted a loud dong from a bell that made him jump in sheer surprise. The ring lasted as it echoed into the air. Link breathed in rapidly as he recovered from the shock until it rang again, and repeated the sound four more times.

"By Din's wrath... does that _need_ to be so loud...?!" Link seethed through clenched teeth. His head and ears were the ones ringing by now.

"That ringing means that it just turned to six in the morning." Tatl explained. "So that’s how much time we have left for the rest of the day. Tael spoke something about the Swamp, Mountain, Ocean and Canyon. Each of those locations are aligned to each compass direction outside of town. So I guess we definitely need to head to those places..."

"Okay, but which one should we go to first?" Link asked.

"Well, if we gotta pick one, I’d say we should start at the swamp. The south exit from where we are is the closest, after all. Maybe he named them in order for a specific reason, for all I know, so maybe we should just follow that."

Link nodded as he listened to her, but looked away, as something caught his eyes. He blinked, staring in the distance for a second, where his eyes soon widened.

"I'll... I'll be right back!" He suddenly let out, sprinting off towards the eastern side of town.

"H-Hey, wait a minute!" Tatl cried out, though Link ignored her, as he moved, soon slowing himself to a stop as he stood in front of a pink-haired lady carrying a parasol.

"Miss... Anju?" Link called.

Hearing her name called, she turned her head around to spot the boy behind her, before turning the rest of her body around. "Hello. May I help you with something?"

"Miss Anju, are you alright?"

Her friendly smile quickly turned into an expression of confusion, looking at Link curiously at the strange question asked to her. "What... do you mean?"

 _"_ _ _Of course she couldn’t recognize me… I was a Deku before…"__ Link thought, before trying something different. He lifted his hand up, lightly grabbing the tail-end of his green cap. He pulled it out from behind him in his hand to show it to her. Do you remember seeing a male Deku Scrub child wearing a green hat exactly like this one, recently?

Anju glanced away in thought for a moment, trying to remember. "…No… Not that I can remember. I can’t remember people's faces very well though," She said, chuckling to herself lightly."But I don't think I would easily forget a hat like that if a Deku boy wore it…"  
  
Link frowned at this as realization was beginning to seep into him. She really couldn't remember him at all...? But it only seemed like their meeting was a few hours ago to him...

"Did you... ever find Kafei...?" Link whispered to himself as he thought to back before he went back in time.

"Kafei...!"

He heard Anju gasp and instantly realized his mistake. She nearly outright dropped her parasol, but she managed to catch it in time before it was completely lost from her grip. "Do you... do you know something about Kafei?!"

Link quickly wheeled the gears in his head, trying to think up an excuse or reason how he knew about him on the spot. "No… I mean, yes… Well uh…"

He physically winced. Calm down...

"Not specifically… I don’t know anything about where he is; just that you were looking for him… I want to help you look for him… I… need to go now. Good luck! I-I'll come to you if I find anything about him Anju... bye!"

Link spun himself around, sprinting off from Anju despite her calling back for him. The child ran up a flight of stairs back behind a building which gave him access to a rooftop. He sighed, in a pant, plopping himself down on the soft hay of the roof. Tatl soon flew by, in front of his face. She was about to start yelling at him, but hesitated, seeing the look on his face.

"You look like you’ve seen a ghost… What was that all about?"

Link's throat felt a bit dry as he stared down thoughtfully at the town below him, though eventually his blue eyes did shift to meet Tatl."You remember everything that happened, right?"

"Yeah? So?"

"She doesn’t… To her, it’s like nothing happened. Yet we know what truly took place… Everything has been completely reset…"

Link let out a depressed sigh. He brought his left knee up, and rested his elbow on it as his hand went up, where his head rested in his palm. He tapped his fingers against the side of his face in annoyance. "For the love of Nayru… we’ll be lucky if we can do this in three days. How lonely… If nobody will remember me, well… my memory may as well just be erased too."

"Of course they wouldn't remember! We went back in _time!_ In fact, it's probably _better_ that nobody remembers anything! Do you want people to remember how they almost died like that?!"

"Yeah... but what happens if we have to go back in time again? We will have to start completely from scratch again!"

Tatl slowly floated her way towards Link's ear as she began talking, her voice getting louder with every word she spoke until she was shouting. "Then I guess you better get off your butt _and get a damn move ON TO THE DAMN **SWAMP!**_ "

Link frowned, annoyed, as his finger went up rubbing his ear that she had shouted in. "Remind me when I have a problem to not cry on _your_ shoulder, despite me offering _my_ shoulder to you already..."

"Don't make me say it yet another time..." She warned him, patience clearly growing thin.

Link let out a frustrated sigh as he stood up on his feet. He made his way towards the Southern gate of Clock Town, the one he failed to get through when he was a Deku. He casually walked up to the guard positioned there. "May I pass...?" He asked a little bit nervous that he'll be carried off once again for merely being a child.

"Sure!"

"...Oh. Thanks! _Geez, that was easy..."_ He finished in thought as he walked past the man. Tatl followed behind him and he exhaled a sigh, letting the nervousness he had built up before he even talked to the man go at ease. When they were some distance from the guard inside the wall, Tatl floated near his ear. "How old are you anyways?"

"Eleven... I think. Why?"

"...You don't even know...?" Tatl asked him with a bit of disbelief in her voice. "Claim to be a hero and doesn't even know his own age..."

"I've been on the road for at least a few months now... I haven't really been keeping track... And I don't know when my official birthday is. My mom died when I was still a baby."

"Err... oh. I see." Tatl disengaged from the subject awkwardly.

"And what has my age have to do with anything anyways?" Link continued dismissively. It's not like the Kokiri keep track of their age anyways. They are children for their entire lives; age is almost meaningless to them."

"But you look perfectly normal to me. Not some Kokiri-whatever."

"Because I'm not. I was raised there as one."

Tatl let out an exasperated sigh. "I think my confidence in this entire thing has dwindled a little bit... not that I had much to begin with."

Link narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance. He was about to speak, but the fact his right foot stepped into something that wasn't concrete or wooden... which of course, it was grass, had caught his attention instead. He looked away from her and ahead of him, and gasped as he saw lush green landscape in front of him. Mountains surrounded the town far off in the distance and the landscape around them, but it was still a big sight to see.

"Wow, this looks _a lot_ like Hyrule field... That mountain over there... with the smoke ring around it..." Link pointed up to a tall purple looking mountain with a smoke ring like he had announced. It was one of the taller mountains and was really the only purple one, at least that he could see off into the distance. "Back in Hyrule, that looks almost exactly like Death Mountain... It even has a smoke ring too. It's even the same shape. It seems quite a bit smaller I suppose, though. And Death Mountain wasn't purple..."

"What's Death Mountain like?" Tatl asked.

"Well, it's a volcano really, despite the 'mountain' in its name..."

"Well, THAT mountain is the swamp's mountain named Woodfall. It isn't a volcano. It's actually a giant spring of water in the top center. It basically flows a large portion of the water in the swamp. The other major contributor is the waterfall in the swamp connected from the Ikanna region. The mountain seems rather strange though... I've never seen it purple before... The rest of the mountains look just fine; but they have nothing to do with the swamp's water."

Link looked up at the mountains before sighing quietly to himself. He had this bad foreboding feeling that he couldn't seem to shake. He had it for a short while now and had been subconsciously thinking about it. He tried to dismiss it but it wasn't going away at all.

 

" _Three days... three mere days I have to find four "guardians" from four compass locations... I have all the time in the world, yet no time at all... I'm up against a moon.... no, I am up against a **God**... That mask... It's more powerful than even Ganondorf was! Even he couldn't conjure up a moon to fall on the world just because he willed it!_  
_"Once again another adventure is beginning... It's going to be a brand new experience for me... I've seen this beautiful land, I've met it's kind people... I want to help protect it. But am I trying to take on more then I can handle _ _\--___ **Ouch!!** "

Link rubbed the top of his head painfully with both hands as he clenched his teeth in pain. Tatl flew in front of his face."Stop standing around looking cool by staring up at that ugly thing in the sky!" She lectured. " _GO TO THE SWAMP DAMMIT!_ You have seriously wasted nearlyan hour just _thinking_! We don't have time to think! Less thinking, _more moving!_ "

"All right, _all right!_ I get it!" Geez, how did I ever mistake _you_ for Navi...?!"

 

 

 

 

* * *

Link's boots splashed in the water, and the child let out a 'Yech...' in disgust as he pulled his boot out, seeing all kinds of icky gunk stuck to the bottom of it, mostly mud that slowly slopped off the bottom of his soles, but he was sure there was something else mixed in as well, with the absolutely disgusting stench all over the place.

"By Farore's grace... This place absolutely sucks!" He exclaimed angrily. "It's as hot as a jungle, it's as muddy and disgusting as a marsh, it reeks like crap... I mean even look at the color of this water! Oh, and it's even extremely wet!"

"Extremely wet as compared to what...?" Tatl asked him in a bored tone of voice.

"Well, err... wet like a swamp I guess..." Link muttered.

"Uh-huh..." She nodded in mock agreement. "Kidding aside, you're right. The water is a disgusting color, it is way more humid than it normally should be at this time of year and I have _never_ smelled the swamp this way before. It normally smells stinky -- but nothing like this...!"

"Well, how many times _have_ you visited the swamp?" Link questioned.

"Not a lot." She admitted. "Enough however to know that this certainly isn't normal. Luckily for me, I can fly. So no being wet for me~"

"Like that matters. You either sit on my shoulder or on my hat most of the time anyways." Link replied dully.

"I need to conserve my energy to thinking... Since a certain _someone_ seems to be a little slow on doing that job..."

Link sighed while rolling his eyes at the fairy as he looked away from her, stepping himself back into the water. He slowly walked on through it. His footsteps splashing in the water. After a few minutes, Tatl suddenly jumped up from Link's hat letting out a single ring from her form. "I just suddenly had a brainwave!"

"I didn't know fairies had brains..." Link muttered.

"I am going to hit your head again and you're not going to like it, boyo."

"Fine, fine..." Link raised his hands up in front of him disarmingly. "What's your plan?"

"What we should do is ask the Deku King what's up with the swamp. Not only that, but while we are there, we can ask about this 'guardian' Tael referred about."

"That's actually not a bad idea..." Link said thoughtfully. "Do you know where it is?"

"Um.... no. Not exactly anyways... If I had to guess, I would say it is near the big fat now-purple mountain. I mean, it's the Deku King, I would imagine a palace of some sort to be in the middle of Deku territory, which this swamp is."

"Why don't you just fly up and look for it?" Link asked.

"It's too humid to fly up that high. In fact, I'm kind of getting tired just floating here." She said, which as if on cue, floating back onto Link's right shoulder and nestled down. "And you're sure it's not just you being lazy?" Link muttered as he continued trudging on through the water.

"Everything I do or can't do is for good reason."

"Like startling my horse?"

"Skull Kid told me to do it."

A disapproving look and a bit of a growl escaped Link's throat. "I do hope your ears just heard what came out of your mouth..." He warned, causing an nervous and cautious chuckle to escape the fairy before she stayed silent. Link sighed and shook his head slowly as he continued onward. He at one point nearly slipped and fell because the water was so murky, he couldn't see that it suddenly steeped off and went a bit deeper in some areas, the water now up to a few inches below his knees as he waded through the foul smelling water, much to his annoyance. After a few minutes, Link stopped for a moment as he let out an exhausted exhale. His arm rising up and wiping sweat off of his eyebrows and forehead as he continued to slosh on. "Ugh... the humidity... is it getting worse...?"

"I haven't noticed it rising..." Tatl murmured. Link walked on for a few more minutes, before he soon stopped. He let out a weak groan of exhaustion and collapsed onto his hands and knees. The water splashed out as he did so everywhere, soaking him as his right hand desperately clutched at his throat. Tatl flew off of Link's head to avoid the water, before flying back and turned to face the boy angrily. "What's wrong with you?! Are you trying to drown--..." She trailed off, taking a second look at Link. "You... don't look so good actually. Are you okay?"

"U-Ugh..." Link grunted out as he rasped out a weak breath. "I don't... feel well at all... I... I feel ...weak all over... Can... hardly breathe...!" He struggled to let out, as his body shook all over. His eyes widened as an intense pain was beginning to coat all over his body. "...What... What's... happening to me...?

Tatl moved her body, gently touching against Link's forehead as he panted for breath, clenching his eyes shut at the pain beginning to course through him. "You have a really bad fever... Is it from this smell and heat that's causing you a lot of stress...? No... that can't be... it's come too quickly--"

Link soon began to cough and his eyes shot open wide in horror. His left hand rose up slowly to grab his throat, as he soon began choking for air. Tatl let out a ring in panic.

"M-My lungs are..." Link rasped out. "C-Can't... br... brea..."

Link soon collapsed on his left side, splashing into the water and half submerged into it as unable to hold himself any longer as he was growing weaker by the second. He struggled and just managed to pull his head up enough to gasp, but it was becoming harder to breathe in air with each passing second. He was literally drowning above the surface. And he didn't have the strength to pull himself out. Link struggled to get himself back up on all fours, and managed to do so; but only just barely.

"You need to get out of the water! It's going to kill you!" Tatl dinged in a panicked tone. "This smell... it's miasma...!"

"C-Can't move..." Was all Link could choke out.

"Link, this water is _poisoned!_ You've _got_ to try!" She tried to encourage. Her tone was somewhat panicky but she was trying to remain calm. Link fought with all his might to push himself up, but he let out a grunt of exertion and collapsed back down again. He couldn’t stop himself from clutching his throat; his face red from the lack of oxygen his lungs were receiving.

 

_" ...Ugh... I can't... I... just can't...! No matter... how much... I... try...! What... What the hell... is happening... to... my... body...!?"_

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While Link's age, as far as the debug version of the game is concerned, puts him at "Age 10" when you are in the map select, the debug version is very strongly just based off of the Ocarina of Time engine, so it's a possibility they just didn't both to change Link's age (or he's still 10), although due to how Link's appearance in Majora's Mask gives him a slightly more mature look compared to that of Ocarina of Time; considering a metal shield literally is not the size of nearly his entire body anymore (and he's gone from being unable to pluck plants and wield a shield on his arm, to being able to do both). He's definitely grown and matured some to say the least, so I set him as eleven for the story.
> 
> On a different note, formatting issues are still here. So my apologies again; I've tried my best to fix as many as I could. There may still be some errors as they just happen all over the place -- not much I can do about it other than damage control.
> 
> Edit (4/30/15): Finally fixed the stupid spacing issues in every line break and some more formatting errors. The site seriously isn't helping me write this story properly when it shows text is bolded, for example in the preview, and then when I update it live, it isn't.


	5. Chapter 4: A Promise; An Oath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Tatl learned about the poisonous problem rampant in the Southern Swamp a little too late...

 

 

_**"Aaagh!!..."** _

_**"Heh...heh...heh... Pitiful... You got guts challenging me like this kid... I like that... You're the boy that was in Zelda's Courtyard, wasn't you? Did the little plan you two come up with work? Did it boy?!"** _

_**"Shut... up... Shut up...! HIYAAAH!!!"** _

_**"Idiot."** _

_**"AHHH!..."** _

_**"Why don't you just give up kid? Tell me where the white horse went, or do you want to die along with the others?"** _

_**"No... I will not say anything to someone like you Ganondorf..! You... You killed the... Deku Tree... You killed Zelda's father... I won't give up to a heartless bastard like you... I swear... from this day onward... I will never give up in my life... not to anyone... not for any reason...!  
"To give up for myself... is to give up on my friends...! I WILL NEVER DO THAT!! HAAAAAH!!"** _

_**"Heh heh heh...! You're an idiot boy! 'From this day onward'? You have to survive this day first!!"** _

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"Ta...Tatl... find... help..."

It was all Link could manage to choke out. His fingers dug into the wet mud underneath the poisonous water’s surface. He was fighting with all the strength he had left, but it was only a few seconds later where the poison’s power defeated his own. Link completely collapsed in the water, his face submerged under the surface.

Tatl screamed out in horror, as she watched the grip Link’s fingers had on the mud below rapidly soften as he struggled to hold his breath, struggling still to get up so he can pull himself out of the water but he soon let go... bubbles formed out of his mouth. His form was soon becoming more limp and lax by the second.

 

_"_ _What fools you two are."_  

 

Tatl spun herself around as a witch lady riding on a broom, with a large nose hovered over the both of them. She was short and her clothing was black robes of some sort. Tatl rang out loudly in surprise yet hopeful at the same time.

"Kotake?! Is that you?!" She let out in panic before hesitated for a second. "Or... are you Kou--"

"Kotake." The witch let out in an annoyed huff. 

"Save him, please??!" She begged.

"Why should I save a fool?"

"But…But… it was my fault I told him to walk in the swamp!"

"You told the child to walk into the poison swamp and he listened to you? Then that still makes him a fool."

"W-We didn’t know the water was poisonous! A--And he hasn’t been in Termina before! How could he know the swamp was poisonous if I didn’t!?" Tatl tried to reason, bobbing her form up and down rapidly as Link was more or less drowning two feet from the both of them and this witch wasn't doing anything to help. "Please, Kotake, my little brother is in trouble and he is helping me with knowing I can’t give anything in return! He’s… He’s a good kid! What would you do if something was happening to your sister?!"

Kotake's large eyes narrowed slightly, tapping her pointy chin with her index finger in thought. Tatl looked back and fourth between Link who was now unconscious, drowning under only a few inches of water, and Kotake, growing more panicked by the second. There was only so much stress such a little tiny fairy could take.

"Alright, fine, but you both must do me a favor." She finally answered.

"Fine, deal! Anything you want!" Tatl quickly agreed.

Despite her frail looking body, Kotake steered her broom near Link and pulled him out of the water by lifting the back collar of his shirt. She looked the unconscious child over; Link’s eyes were sealed tightly shut, for even while his lights were out, his body was seizing and tensing the muscles in short twitches of pain from the poison attacking his body; and the fact that he was not breathing, his body was starving for oxygen. Link's face had a blue tinge to his cheeks. Not a good sign.

"His lungs are not filled with the water; he must have struggled a long time before the poison closed them off before any water could actually get inside of them. Lucky for him he decided to not give up. Yes, I can save this boy easily. Follow me."

"Wouldn't have had to be lucky if you picked him up half a minute ago..." Tatl muttered under her breath out of the Witch's hearing.

Kotake flew over a vast volley of trees on her broom, but the journey didn't last more than a dozen seconds as she neared a small building that was shaped very much like a cauldron that was built on top of a tall wooden platform. There was also swamp water around platform, but Tatl took note that this water wasn't purple like the rest they had seen. This body of water was coming from Ikanna Valley, perhaps that was why?

Kotake neared the water down below. And of all things, tossed Link into it, submerging the boy completely under the water. Tatl stared in disbelief for a moment, before glaring at Kotake. "What... are you doing...?!"

"Rinsing him of the poisonous water." The witch answered in a dull tone. "No point curing him if he's just going to catch it again from the contamination that he's got on him. And he can't breathe so he certainly can't drown anymore than he already is, so this is the easiest and quickest way to wash him."

 

 

Kotake soon reached down, picking the child out of the water again, a purple cloud in the clear water showing how covered Link had been in the stuff. Kotake flew her broom up on top of the cauldron-like building. There was a small opening in the roof which Kotake flew her and Link through and Tatl followed in after.

Inside the building, the room was filled with different colors of fume smoke from different potions all around. Red, green and blue. Different smells littered the room. Kotake hopped off of her broom when it was lowered to the floor, and still carrying Link, she moved to a back room of what was her potion shop. There, she lay the wet Hylian on a bed face up. His face by now had turned a horrible shade of deeper blue; which made Tatl feel incredibly panicked; yet Kotake didn't react to Link's condition at all. Instead, what she did, was raise her left fist and then pounded the middle of his chest once.

The child let out a weak gasp for air, began to cough a bit, then let out a few more gasps. His face recovered a little bit more of natural color as well, but he was still having problems in-taking air, and was in mere second choking again. Kotake pounded his chest hard again. Another choking in-take of air. She pounded his chest a third time. Link managed to get two gasps in, before he was choking yet again, but his face by now recovered to a more natural looking color. Of course, it would not last long.

"That temporarily reawaken the lungs again for him to get some air, meaning he won't be dead in the next minute or two. However, it is only a matter of time before they will be closed off again. Of course, I will make sure the poison won't be in him to do so..." She clucked her tongue as she stared at Tatl. "...That is, unless your friend is stupid enough to decide to step into more poisonous water." 

Tatl only glared at her annoyed, although with her features to the witch being only a glowing ball, it was impossible for the witch to make out. Kotake continues anyways though as she turned her attention back to Link. "I must say though, this child is very healthy and strong. Not only did he survive long enough against the poison to not intake any water, but it only took one pound each time to open up his lungs from the venom. I am impressed." 

Kotake wandered over to a shelf, grabbing a red bottle and a soup spoon. She walked back to Link, pounded his chest yet another time to open his lungs, quickly she dipped the spoon into the red liquid inside the bottle and shoved the spoon inside the boy's lips that was still gasping. Almost as if on instinct, when the liquid trickled into his mouth, the forest boy began to swallow before his lungs were able to clamp down again. He finished off the amount in the spoon and Kotake stepped back. Seconds later, Link began to stir, his body shifting a little on the bed, before he suddenly rolled off of his back from the bed and crashed onto the floor face down, coughing and soon spitting some type of mucus out of his mouth. He was still dripping wet as he slowly pushed himself on to his hands and knees, continuing to cough as his body was reacting to the medicine, giving him strength to rapidly fight the poison out of his body.

"Wait... _what?!_ " Tatl yelled as she stared at the witch. "After only giving him a tea-spoon of that stuff?!"

"My potions work very well, they do." Kotake praised herself as she confidently watched the boy beginning to recover.

"Ungh... _*cough*_.... Wh... What...? Where... am I...?" Link managed to sputter weakly, still on his hands and knees, although his right hand moved to clutch his chest which was more or less burning.

"You're in my medicine shop, boy. And I must say, you are very lucky to be alive right now. Had I not been nearby, the poison would have most certainly have done you in, no matter how strong your body is and how determined you are, you can't battle poison with just sheer will-power." Kotake lectured, being a bit hard considering he had just only regained consciousness moments later. "At least today that may have just saved your life. But listen to me ramble -- you are in no condition to receive my lectures. Not for a few more minutes anyways while my medicine cures the poison that is inside of your systems."

 

 

As if on cue, Link began to choke yet again, coughing and spitting out another wad of mucus out of his mouth a moment later. He groaned in disgust and weakness as he slowly pushed himself up off of his hands and knees, and lay seated on the floor in a more upright position against the bed, panting for breathe as he still clutched his burning chest.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't know... that the water..." Link began to apologize, before he began to hack and cough once again, cutting him off. Kotake frowned for a moment, still holding her potion bottle with the spoon, she dipped the spoon in and aimed the spoon into Link's mouth while the boy had it open for gasping for air. He let out a startled ' _Mmph?!'_ at her, but he soon swallow, making noises of disgust at the potion's bitterness.

"Is he going to be all right...?" Tatl asked worriedly.

"He'll be fine. He didn't need the second serving I just gave him. One was going to be fine." Kotake answered casually.

"Then why'd you give it to him?"

"Because he was spitting all over my floor. This _is_ my shop..." The witch warned, turning her attention back to Link who was looking up at her apologetically. "Anyways, as long as you've learned your lesson; which after dying I'm hoping that you have. Since I have saved you boy, I want you to do something for me in return."

"C-Certainly... What can I do for you...?"

"My sister has gone missing ever since I asked her to help gather some mushrooms for me... I am worried about her. So I want you to go look for her for me to make sure that something hasn't happened to her." Kotake set her spoon down and moved the red bottle she had, taking a smaller clearer bottle and poured the liquid into it. When it was pretty much full, she stuck a cork in it and handed it to Link. He took the the bottle, staring at the red liquid, and soon jumped at the sternness in Kotake's voice. "That is not for you so quick goggling at it!"

"Ah... err, yes ma'am."

"If you drink a single drop of this then you are going to wish the water took your life instead by the time I'm done with you. I've already given you more than enough of the medicine to help save you; don't make me regret that. Do I make myself clear boy?"

"Y-Yes ma'am...!"

"You've soaked and spat on my floor for long enough. Get going." The witch said, her mood swinging confusing both Hylian and fairy, along with intimidating the both of them. Link slowly stood himself up, balancing himself a little as he walked to the door of the shop. He turned the knob and opened the door, stepped halfway through and looked back at Kotake.

"Thank you for saving me, I will bring your sister back, I promise."

Kotake seemed to smile just slightly as Link stepped the rest of the way through the door and closed it behind him. He instantly began climbing down a ladder that lead down to ground level. Tatl floated up beside him as he did so.

" _Euurgh...!_ " Tatl shivered now that they were out of the room as Link took his time, understandably, to go down the ladder, still recovering from the poison inside his body. "Don't know who's more threatening. Her or that bloody mask Skull Kid has! And errands? We don't have time for those, especially as something like finding a missing person!"

"Well, she did save my life..." Link interjected.

"You do not want to know the trouble I went through to get her to even get you out of the poisonous water. She's not as nice as you're thinking." Tatl muttered.

"I think the least we can do is try and find the sister. Who knows, we might find the Deku palace at the same time."

"Ugh... this is my fault..." Tatl pouted guiltily.

"No, it's not." Link stated simply. "You didn't know the swamp water was poisonous. I would have walked in it all the same. I figured something was up, but I would have thought you would only need to swallow the water; not simply get it on you or breathe the smell in." He said, as his feet found the wooden platform at the bottom of the potion shop where it was perched above. "We know better now. It's best that it happened when it did rather than later."

"...You sure look at death rather casually." Tatl muttered.

"People who have liked me have called me brave. Those who hate me have called me stupid. Perhaps it's a mix of both. Which ever one it is, it simply wasn't your fault, Tatl." He stated, trying to give a reassuring smile, but his face instead twisted in pain. He clutched his chest, and began to cough yet again. His head moved to the side away from Tatl as he spat a couple more times. He then cleared his throat. "Urghh... still got a bit inside me, I guess..."

"Maybe you should rest here for a while and I'll go look for her..." The fairy offered.

"It's still harder to breathe than it should be, which is making me feel a little light headed." Link admitted as he cleared his throat. "I should be alright soon though, so don't worry. I already feel a lot better than when I first woke up and that was only a few minutes ago... It's nothing I can't handle. Where do you suppose we should start looking?

"Woodfall... that's what the mountain is called if you remember; it's the main source of where the water is coming from. Obviously something is up with that place which is causing the water to be poisonous." Tatl brainstormed outloud. "The water here is fine because it's coming from the Ikanna region and Woodfall is on the other side of the swamp. If the poison hasn't reached here yet then this must have happened recently."

"If you think the poison problem the swamp has is recent... then do you think Skull Kid...?" Link trailed off.

"That wouldn't be surprising news. He's waiting for the moon to fall; he would be bored sitting there waiting otherwise. Skull Kid wasn't really a patient person to begin with. I highly doubt he would be with that stupid mask on his face as well."

Link was about to add to that, when he heard a distant scream coming from over the trees. The Hylian and fairy looked at each for a second, before Link started off into a sprint towards the sound. Within a few steps, he began to cough once more and slowed to a stop, hands on his knees as he gasped.

"You need to take it easy for a little while!" Tatl warned him.

"D-Dammit..." Link huffed. He began moving again, although he paced himself to more of a light jog, which was still drawing out heavy breaths from him. Link slunk into the giant folly of trees, aiming directly where he had heard the scream come from. He pushed branches and bushes out of his way, which Tatl struggled to follow him through despite Link's slow pace.

"If we get lost, don't blame me!" Tatl warned him.

"You can just fly to see where he are." Link reasoned. 

Eventually he broke through to a clearing and gasped as he saw another figure, looking exactly like Kotake laying on the forest floor. Her broom was at her side as she held her back in pain. What shocked him even worse was the other figure standing over her. Link instinctively unsheathed his weapons from his back and clenched his teeth in anger.

"Skull Kid?! You bastard, leave her alone!"

The scarecrow slowly turned himself around, and looked at Link and then soon took a step back in surprise.

"What the--? How did you get out of that body so fast? How did you get here _at all?_ Tatl, what are you doing with that fool?!"

"What do you mean--?! You're the one who ditched me with him in the first place you ass!" Tatl shouted, giving a piece of her mind. "And now you're trying to crush Clock Town with that moon?!"

Well, it seemed like he didn't have any recollection of what happened, just like Anju, so that was a good thing at least. And the mask had seemed like it had corrupted Skull Kid the more time had passed... maybe he could taunt the scarecrow into getting too close, where he could snag the mask off of him? Well, perhaps it was worth a try. It would at least get his attention away from Kotake's sister if it wasn't already.

Digging inside his tunic, Link fiddled with the case of his Ocarina before pulling it out, waving it in front of Skull Kid. "Hey, did you notice you lost this?"

Skull Kid screeched in surprise, looking down at himself, patting his clothing before looking up at Link. "You... how did you get that?! You weren't anywhere near me!"

Link grinned, as he secured the Ocarina back with him inside its case. "What's wrong, are you surprised, Skull Kid? I escaped the forest, turned myself back to normal and even got my Ocarina back from you. I thought you were smarter than this?"

"Oh, you must think you are _pretty_ clever, despite you being a fool..." Skull Kid muttered angrily.

"...!! Move, Link! That mask is giving out energy!!"

Link's eyes snapped open and he began sprinting to his right while holding his shield in front of him, Tatl flying out of the way and up into the air. He didn't even get to take a few steps before he heard an explosion that impacted his shield and sent him flying backwards from the force.

 

"Sh-Shit!"

 

Unable to stop himself, his body flew right into a tree, causing him to collide into it and grunt from the impact from which he slid down from onto his bottom. Other than that, the shield had protected him fairly well and he was unharmed otherwise other than him breathing heavily from the impact winding him a bit and already weakened quite badly from the poison. Link gritted his teeth as he slowly pushed himself back up onto his feet.

"...I don't even need to lift a finger to eliminate you." Skull Kid said -- his meaning quite literal in that he hadn't even moved at all. "Yet you still insist on trying to take me on?!" He continued.

"You wouldn't dare..." Link pantted. "I already know you better than that, Skull Kid. You're just toying with us. You won't finish me off now; this is much too fun for you... You want to enjoy this, don't you? This is nothing but a game to you in your sick little mind...!"

" _Heheheeheehee~~..."_ Skull Kid giggled gleefully. "Maybe I should take it back a little bit... You are more observant than you look! Don't let that make you think you actually stand a chance against me, though!"

" And what have I to lose if I try compared to if I didn't? Do you really expect me to just sit back and let you do whatever you want? Do you think of yourself as some kind of god?!"

"...No... I was a god... I still _AM_ a god!" He declared.

_Was_ a god? That didn't make any sense, did it? Still, he didn't have any time to think. "Then I suppose I will just have to prove you wrong!"

Link rushed towards Skull Kid who just stood there, arms interlaced over each other against his chest. Skull Kid didn’t even take up a stance. Link swung aggressively at Skull Kid, who literally leaned under the sword from the boy's swing.

"I’m sick of you hurting innocent people!" Link shouted angrily. He rushed in a series of rapid thrusts with his sword; Skull Kid moving himself out of the way by leaning to one side or the other in immortal-like speed without even uncrossing his arms, or moving his feet from the ground. Link went for a low swing with his sword aimed at the legs. Skull Kid jumped up, levitating once more into the air. Link sheathed his shield, and gripped his Kokiri sword in both hands as he stared up at the levitating scarecrow.

"I won’t let you get away from me!" Link declared.

" _*Pfft*...._ ‘Run’…? From you?"

"Link stop!" Tatl shouted, noticing that the boy was losing his cool. "You're being reckless!"

The child ignored the fairy. He sprinted off, rushing straight towards Skull Kid who merely observed what Link was doing. He watched as the child sprinted someways up a tree and then jumped off of it up high into the air above Skull Kid. He held his sword with both hands as he held it up above and behind his head.

" _HAAAAH!!"_

Link swung the sword down as he neared Skull Kid, the sword aiming straight for his face; the mask. A loud clang was heard as if Link had just slashed at a metal surface. The contact between the mask and Link's sword stood still, despite Link being in the air, he didn't descend.

"W-What...?" Link muttered in disbelief. That's impossible. That mask had a wooden texture... he could definitely see it when he was up this close...

His sword began to spark some, as Link let out a surprised yelp as the weapon attempted to tug out of his hands. He held on to it tightly though as he was raised up in the air from holding onto the weapon. Link gritted his teeth in anger, as he watched Skull Kid. The scarecrow soon moved his index finger and as he motioned it, the sword moved along with it. He quickly shook his finger left and right, trying to throw Link off. The child held on firmly. Skull Kid soon moved it up a notch when he began having the sword spiral around. Link let out short yelps here and there, although he still refused to let go of his Kokiri sword. Eventually, Skull Kid dropped his hand quickly downward. Link didn't even know what happened as he suddenly slammed face first into the ground. He let a delayed groan from the impact, as he slowly began pushing himself back up off the ground which he had landed so hard into, the ground under him had an implant of his body shape. He let out an exhausted moan of pain though when he was suddenly slammed back into the ground. Feeling weight on his back, it had been Skull Kid landing on top of him.

"Unhh..." Link groaned out in pain as Skull Kid managed to somehow weight himself down harder. The sound made Skull Kid cackle in delight. "If that was your best attempt, I'm afraid  I may have to handicap myself. Maybe give you an extra day or two...?"

"G-Grrrgh...!" Link growled angrily. He began to push himself up once more. Skull Kid slammed his foot back down in the center of Link's back, to silence his growl of anger as the boy grunted out once more from the impact and was forced back down into the dirt again. Even though he was stomping on his shield, the power was simply too much for him to resist against with his body ill as it was.

"I am, of course just joking. Seriously though, good luck.... Not like it will help you!" The masked child snickered. Link felt the weight release off of his back, as he quickly rolled himself around onto his back, the pupils in his eyes flicked around hastily looking for Skull Kid, but he couldn't see him in sight. Link let out a growl, as his fingers dug tightly into the grass in anger.

" _ **No!** _ I won't lose you, you bastard! I _will_ find a way to stop the moon! _I will make you regret challenging me!!"_

 

With a huff of anger, Link rose himself to his feet. The Hylian stared back at the moon; his sword shook with his hands from the anger coursing through him.

"Um, Link? Are you going to let her lay like that? Feed her Kotake’s medicine already!" Tatl rang in his ear suddenly.

"Huh?"

Link pushed himself up as he looked around, looking at what was the twin sister of Kotake laying on the ground, her face in the dirt.

"Are you... all right miss?" Link asked cautiously.

"I'm playing dead." She replied in a casual tone, her voice muffled as she spoke into the ground. Link could blink at her disbelievingly for a second or three. "We uh... have some of your sister's medicine." He began.

"You’re not a very _bright_ boy, aren’t you?" She responded, lifting her face from the ground. "Come on, help me here! My spine is paralyzed! Hand it to me!"

Link sheathed his sword and shield as he reached into his pouch for the medicine. He barely got it out before he yelped as hands swiped it away from him. He looked as the witch was standing up, holding the medicine, already gulped it down.

"Wh-Wha--? But you said your spine was..." Link trailed off, mumbling.

"Couldn’t have been hurt _that_ badly…" Tatl muttered in agreement.

The witch woman stood up straighter suddenly, dropping the empty bottle on the floor, which rolled to Link's feet as the he bent down to pick it up. He looked back up at the witch before letting out a gasp as he had to shield his eyes from the bright light that came forth from her. She let out a cackle of joy as the light dimmed and Link was soon able to look; seeing she was on a floating broomstick that was levitating in the air much like her sister had.

"Feel the energy flow! Koume is _revived!_ " She screamed loud enough that some birds that were resting in the swampy trees flew away from the canopies. Link half shielded his ears from the loud statement as Koume looked at him. "Thank you for helping me boy, Kotake must have asked you to come look for me, right?"

"Well… _demanded_ would be a little more accurate…"

"Is there anything I can do to return the favor?" She asked.

Do you know where the Deku palace is? We need to go there it's an emerg--"

" _OF COURSE I KNOW WHERE IT IS!_ " She screamed at him, causing him to shield his ears completely this time. " _'Know where it is?!'_ What kind of ridiculous question is that?! I'm the swamp tour guide!"

"Well _sor--ry._ " Tatl drawled.

"...It's an emergency..." Link continued, pulling his hands away from his ears. "We need to get there as quick as possible. Can you tell us where it is?"

"Tell you where it is? I'll _take_ you there." She offered. "Grab a hold of my broom. And you, fairy, sit on top of his hat."

Tatl did as she was instructed almost instantly. Link watched Koume hovered her broom over him with both hands. Link raised his arms up, firmly holding onto the broom. He held in his breath as he soon felt the broom pull upwards, and his feet planted on the air lost their ground and soon dangled as he hovered a few inches off of the ground.

"Koume, are you sure this thing can hold my weight? I'm not sure I'm light enough with my equipm--AHHHH--"

He and Tatl shared the scream together, but it didn't even last a second as the rush of wind around them abruptly stopped.

 

"We're at the Deku palace." Koume announced casually.

Link let go off the broom, not willingly, simply because his arms felt flabby and he fell flat on his butt, Tatl rolling off his head, letting out a wheezing or gasping sound, probably from sheer surprise.

"G-Geez... what are you anyways...?" Link whimpered.

"I said I'm the swamp tour guide!!" Koume shouted annoyed. "Are you deaf or something boy?"

"I don't think that's what he meant..." Tatl muttered, fluttering herself up off the ground.

"She did get us here pretty fast though..." Link admittedly as he wobbly stood up. "Thank you for the help Koume. That was amazing!" 

"Saving you two time isn’t nearly as valuable as helping me from that little demon. I am not sure if the Deku’s will allow you in or not though. No one but them are allowed in the palace."

"That's okay. We have a solution to that." Link said.

"...We do?" Tatl let out, staring at Link.

"If you say so boy, I must go back to my sister to tell her that I am alright thanks to you. You wouldn't want her to not be informed."

"Got that right..." Link shivered. "Thanks for your help again."

The witch cackled as her broom spun around and with a puff of smoke, she vanished. Link watched as the smoke cleared before he turned around, walking towards the bridge of the palace. When he reached it though, he frowned at what he saw.  
  
The bridge was in disrepair. It looked to be about three wooden platforms that should have been lined up, were all crooked and out of place. Aside from that, the water was a bright violet. Along with the stench, Link was sure that this water, that was surrounding the palace was poisonous. Stepping carefully, not wanting to fall into the water and relive that experience again, Link hopped from platform to platform until he reached the other side. Tatl of course, had it easy, by being able to fly by Link's side.  
  
When Link approached the entrance of the palace, he was jumped and fell back in surprise when two Deku scrubs suddenly burst out from the ground. Link stared wide eyed for a moment, their yellow-orange glowing eyes stared back at Link. They blocked off the entrance, one on Link's left, one on Link's right.

 

"This is no place for humans, _pi!"_ The left scrub scolded.

_"_ Only the Deku race is allowed in the palace, _pi! _"_ _ The right scrub informed.

" _You need to leave now! pi!"_ They both shouted at once.

 

"Woooow... how stingy..." Tatl huffed.

Link slowly pushed himself up, dusting himself off as he did so. He looked at the two guards, standing before him. They were about his size, although Link was a little bit taller. He could have easily fought his way through if he wanted to, be he didn't want to start a commotion, especially over scrubs that technically were only doing their duty.

"Why are only Deku Scrubs allowed in the palace? We just need to ask the King about--" Link began.

"Ask the King? _Bad_ idea, _pi!_ " The right scrub interjected.

"The King has been angry since the monkey kidnapped the Princess, _pi!"_ Lefty continued.

"...A monkey kidnapping a Princess...? I'm afraid I don't follow." Link murmured.

"I think these two are hiding something. That doesn't explain why only Deku's are allowed in at all." Tatl accused a little loudly than she did. Both the scrubs let out startled 'pi's' at the accusation.

"How dare you!" Righty said, bouncing up and down angrily. "Normally only palace people are allowed in, _pi!"_

_"_ But today is a special day. Pi! The King is calling all Deku Scrubs to witness the monkey's punishment, pi! _"_ Lefty finished again, soon joining his companion in bouncing up and down.

Link frowned in thought. He didn't know why but that story just didn't add up to him, but he soon sighed as looked up at Tatl. "...Oh well, Tatl. I guess it can't be helped. Let's get going."

"What? I'm not done with these two! What's to stop me from just flying over them?" Tatl demanded.

"Tatl... do you really think the king would be happy to see you and answer what we want to know if we just broke in? There's no need for us to start any commotion. Let's go."

Tatl was silent for a moment, but she seemed to resign herself for a moment, before flying right in front of both the guards' faces.

"You're hiding something, and we're gonna find o-- _gah!_ "

Link caught Tatl with both of his hands, quite effectively silencing her off of her threat. He began walking off from the palace with her struggling in his hold, which had almost no power to it, but it was distracting walking back on the crooked platforms again. When Link was a good distance away from the palace and behind a cliff side, he finally let the fairy go.

" _Huff...!_ I thought I was going to suffocate in there!" She gasped. "Hey, why didn't you let me just sneak in? That's not like you at all; you _always_ try and you _never_ give up!"

"Heh, believe me, I am trying still. I'm going to sneak in too. I didn't want you to go in alone without me. And, with my way, we can still contact the King without him throwing a fit... At least I hope. No King likes their daughter missing."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

Link smirked as he dug into his tunic. "I am glad you asked." He said, before pulling out the Deku mask. "Remember this?"

"You are kidding, right? You think because you put a mask on your face, you will suddenly look like a Dek... ...  
...oh no..." She finished.

"Yes, Tatl. That's _exactly_ what I plan to do. And with that, I will be able to sneak inside the Palace."

"But even if you do transform, how do you suppose you will be able to transform back?!" She tried to reason with him. "What if you _can't_ transform back!"

"Skull Kid's magic is inside the mask. If I remove the mask, the magic shouldn't be able to reach me like right now and I should return back to normal. I think the reason I couldn't remove the mask before was part of Skull Kid's magic; but going back in time seems to have reverted that effect somewhat. I think what he did before was simply put a mask on me, and sealed it on with magic while giving off that effect." Link explained. "Magic by itself isn't evil. Its the purpose it's used for that's evil. And with this, I should be able to control that magic."

He stared down at the deku mask in his hand and gulped. As much as his theory _seemed_ reasonable, he still had doubts inside his mind. "Well, I suppose there's no better time to test this out than now..." He mumbled.

"I still think this is a really stupid and bad idea." Was Tatl's wise words of wisdom.

Link ignored her warnings now, as much as she probably was logically right, they were on a clock and sneaking in any other way was probably fruitless. He lift the mask up to his face. Sweat began dripping down his face as he was reluctant to admit it, but he was extremely nervous; and he failed to keep his breathing calm to represent that. The mask touched his face, and Link waited. In seconds, the headache he had felt before with Skull Kid came back so strongly, that Link slowly fell to his knees gripping his head. Tatl said something, but Link couldn't hear it over a loud ringing in his ears as the pain became incomprehensible. He groaned out loudly that soon developed into a scream as Tatl was blinded by a bright flash of light. Just like that, the pain vanished, the ringing ceased. Link slowly dropped his hands from his head and brought them in front of his face. He recognized the hands; at the same time, didn't. They were the Deku hands he had before...

"...Did... Did it... work...?" Link panted.

"Yeah, you're a Deku again. And scared me half to death freakin' death while at it." She complained. "I should stop worrying about you from now on; it's not good for my health."

Link slowly stood upright, testing his body again. Before long, he was walking himself back towards the palace. He still wasn't used to his 'new' body, especially after gotten used to his human one again, so his movements still felt a little off, and he hoped it wouldn't look suspicious. Like being dressed up in a costume...

"Those guards already saw you with me as a human. If they see you again it's going to look really suspicious. Maybe you should hide under my hat until we get inside the palace." Link suggested.

"Oh, and that hat doesn't look any more suspicious than I do?"

"Just do it Tatl..."

Reluctantly, the fairy flew in as Link lifted it.

"Urgh... I don't want to be in your smelly ha _\-- ooo~_ Your hair feels like forest leaves~... _"_ She coo'd in surprise, her voice quieting down as she began to mumble pleasantries about his hair; causing him to sigh. It brought back memories still, as Navi sometimes hid inside of his hat as well. He didn't reminiscent for too long though as he was at the bridge again. He made sure to take steps very carefully especially because he still felt it odd walking around as a Deku; he didn't want to trip and fall in the water; especially because swimming as a Deku to get out would be rather difficult. When he reached entrance, the two guards popped up as expected.

"I came to see the public humiliation of the monkey!" Link said, saluting to the guards. "...Pi!" He added, for good measure.

The guards glanced at each other for a moment before they both stepped out of the way for Link, and the child walked right on through.

"Walk straight ahead to the courtroom where the monkey is held, pi!"

"And do _not_ go anywhere else! Pi!"

And then both guards sank down into their flowers again.Tatl was quiet until they were a safe enough distance away, and then; "What the _hell?!_ How would they recognize me but not _you?"_ Came the fairy's complaint.

"I don't know," Link lied simply to dismiss the subject. It's not like transformation was common, apparently. "Let's just be thankful that we're in the palace, okay?" 

"Hmph..."

Tatl didn’t emerge from Link’s hat. Link was kind of glad for that; the fact she was a glowing ball with glowing wings kind of attracted attention. Eventually Link made his way to a corridor straight ahead, ignoring two other corridors that were on both his left and right side; he didn’t want to stir trouble sneaking around as he already was.  
  
Noises from the other side of a doorway ahead of him were soon very much apparent as Link got closer to it. There was some sort of ruckus going on. As Link walked through when he opened the door, he silenced a gasp that wanted to come fourth. The entire throne room was in an uproar it would seem. With servants dancing around and the Deku King, a very large Deku holding a gnarled staff with a rose bud marking the head, was prancing around shouting things. Link continued gazing around, soon to his left, seeing what looked like a prison cell, holding a monkey inside of it; the white furred creature was tied to a pole via rope. He was making no attempts to get free, and Link observed the cage some more seeing that if he wanted to, he could actually climb over the bars over the cage, but he wouldn’t be able to do that as a Deku. Looking back to the Deku’s, it would seem that they were yelling things at the monkey, although so many were speaking at once Link couldn’t recognize exactly what was being said, though he knew there context was promises of threats and torture until he told them where the Princess was. Such a small monkey though... there was surely no way he could have single-handedly kidnapped a Deku. Even he wasn't fully grown compared to Deku's, and he seemed to be bigger than the monkey still.

"…What have we wandered into…?" Link hushed himself but loud enough for the fairy to hear as he opened his hat enough for her to look from the front.

"From what I can see from here, looks like that Monkey did something really bad to be tied up in the Deku Palace. I say we go and find a way to talk to him. With how the Deku’s are, I highly doubt we are going to get any information from them. I have a feeling something is going on here and it's connected..."

"How so?" Link asked.

"Because the Deku scrubs worship the god of Woodfall -- and Woodfall is the source of the swamp's water. Said swamp's water is poisoned. Something is horribly wrong... so let's try to get information from the monkey."

"How are we going to get close to it, though, let alone talk? If I tried doing that I’ll get thrown out for sure!" Link reminded her.

"For that, I have an idea~ and the first step is to let me out of this hat..."

Obeying her request, Link lifted the front of his cap slightly more to let the fairy squeeze through. She suddenly flew towards the Deku Scrubs in front of them all without even a word to Link.

"Wow, you’re the King? Man you are _UG-LEH_." Tatl drawled.

" _WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU FLY!!?"_ The Deku King raged angrily.

 

Link face-palmed. "Couldn't she have come up with a _better_ plan...?"

 

Within seconds, the entire palace was in an absolute uproar over Tatl; all attention concentrated on her as the Deku’s tried to catch her; she barely flew in their range, and easily swooping out of the way as she continued taunting and insulting them.

Wasting no time, Link quickly wandered his way over to the prison the Monkey was in. The beast’s eyes were closed; perhaps too tired from all the loud commotion to even hear Link; the child slipped off the Deku Mask for the first time; not even feeling any sensations like he had when he transformed. Before he had even realized it, he was completely human again. Link climbed his way up over the top of the bars, when he landed with a soft thud, the monkey’s eyes opened, and let out a chirp of excitement until Link put his index finger to his lips signalling for him to be quiet.

"Why are you locked up in here?" Link whispered. There was a crashing sound; sounded like pottery breaking...

"The Dekus think I tricked the Deku Princess into letting me into the Woodfall temple... I did no such thing…! The Princess and I were going to the temple to investigate the reasons behind the poison water. The temple is the source of where the poisonous water is coming from… the Princess and I went together, but then a monster came and took her! When I came here to seek for help, the King thought I kidnapped her instead!"

"Monster huh... what monster was it?"

"It was Odolwa, he calls himself the god of Woodfall… all the Dekus worship Odolwa. The Princess and I went to the temple to pray so hopefully the water can become clean again, but Odolwa is no god; it’s a monster! A big one too! It’s probably going to use the Princess as a ransom for the Dekus..." he began, and then gulped nervously. "The Dekus, since they worship Odolwa, are planning to sacrifice me to him if I don’t tell them where the Princess is; I told them but they don’t believe me...!" The monkey finished, looking quite horribly afraid by now.

Link frowned. He was getting more and more puzzle pieces to put together, but he glanced outside the cave and realized he didn't have the time to put them together. "So, if I rescue the Deku Princess, you won’t be sacrificed and at least everything here will calm down? I admit, I’m kind of in a hurry, but my friend over there and I sort of need some information about a certain ‘someone’ in each of the four compass locations in Termina."

"‘Someone’?" The monkey asked.

"A guardian. That's all we know... Where is the temple located?"

 "The temple is located at the summit of Woodfall. To open the entrance you need--"

There was a sudden crash, as Link and the monkey glanced outside the cell towards Tatl, as some pottery in the throne room was shattered once again, along with some various other items.

"Forget it for now, we’re running out of time!" Link declared. "Let’s get you out of this mess!"

Link quickly unsheathed his sword, moving over to the back of the pole the monkey was tied on. However, Link couldn’t just cut through the rope; the monkey was too high up for that. Link looked around the cell and found a few crates, and quickly pulled them towards the back of the pole to climb himself up onto. There were still too few crates for him to reach the rope, so he positioned the crates back a little. Stepping up on them, Link readied himself as he jumped from the crate towards the pole, swinging his sword down he cut through the rope easily.  
  
...And the pole.  
  
With a surprised yelp, the Monkey plopped to the floor. The pole creaked as with the damage the sword done to it, it couldn’t any longer support itself and soon crashed down on some of the bars of the cage, making a lot of noise that all the Dekus turned towards. They were all staring at Link and the monkey. Tatl was staring straight at Link angrily as she flew right towards him.

"Err... I--" Link tried to explain.

" _Great job,_ you idiot! NOW you've done it!!"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always annoyed me you couldn't cut the monkey's rope in the game. You can clearly get high enough to cut it. Just a lame excuse to not have the monkey accompany you to the temple. Luckily, text doesn't have that limitation.


	6. Chapter 5: Messiah; Define a Deity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caught red-handed in trying to rescue the accused monkey, he, Link and Tatl escape where he leads Link towards the temple of Woodfall. There, Link enters to find a perhaps, overpowering foe...

 

 

 

_**"Link, the last Spiritual Stone is in Zora's Domain."** _

_**"Ah, what?! Really!!?**_  
_**"I'm sorry Malon, I've got to go!"**_  
  
_**"Will you be back later?"**_  
  
_**"I will Malon, I promise!"**_  
  
_**"Link, grab on to my Talons. I will fly you there."**_

 

 

  
_**"...Well, aren't you quite the popular one, Link. That makes three pretty girls you have acquainted yourself with now. Saria, Princess Zelda, and now Malon--"**_  
  
_**"Q-Quiet, you!**_  
_"You're just jealous..."_  
  
_**"Hahaha! So, how is it so far? The world?"**_  
  
_**"The world...? It's so big... I never imagined a place so large could possibly exist before leaving the Kokiri forest... We're all so small..."**_  
  
_**"That 'small' you, has the power to change the entire world, though. Every 'small' person does."**_  
  
_**"I don't see how, though..."**_  
  
_**"Some day, perhaps soon, you will understand the meaning of those words."**_

 

 

 

 

 

 

"An intruder! He’s trying to let the foolish monkey escape! Stop them! Capture them!" Link heard the Deku King bellow in order. The Deku servants began making their way towards Link and the Monkey. The exit was quickly blocked off. Link stepped back as the soldiers began climbing over the damage that the pole left in the opening of the cage.

"Quick, this way!"

Link glanced towards the monkey as he began hoping his way over to a hole in the wall; almost like a window, Link followed him over. The monkey climbed up to it. Having nothing to lose, Link quickly grabbed one of the nearby boxes, stood on top of it, and jumped for the ledge of the hole with both hands so he can reach it. His right hand managed to just grasp the window with his fingers; his left hand missed completely, but the monkey caught it with his hands. The Hylian let out a grunt as he collapsed against the wall, quickly shimmied his fingers that had a hold of the ledge to get a better grip as he lifted himself up with a heave along with the monkey with his left hand.  
  
Link finally went over the edge, and then gasped as he realized he was sliding down the surface of the palace through the back side on his stomach.

"Crapcrapcrap! I’m going to fall!!"

The structure of the palace slowly curved steeper and steeper until Link was no longer sliding down it, but falling face first into a barrage of trees. He covered his face with his arms as much as he could as he crashed through sharp branches and thick foliage of leaves until at last he lent out a grunt when he crashed into the ground. Thankfully, rummaging through all of the vegetation softened his fall. Link managed to push himself up to his feet as he cleaned himself from little bits that stuck to him. Turning around, he glanced up at the palace to try and figure out where exactly in the swamp he landed.  
  
He heard some of the bushes rummaging around above him and he looked up as soon the monkey dropped down, landing fine, unlike Link. Soon, Tatl swooped down as well.

"Looks like everyone is alright... and not caught." Link sighed in relief.

"I can’t believe you sometimes." Tatl predictably began to complain. "Actually, I don’t think I’ve believed you _once_ yet. You are absolutely nuts. Didn’t you ever consider what could possibly go wrong by jumping out a window? There was _perfectly_ good backdoor exit you two could have used to escape through the palace gardens!"

"I had no time to think!" Link defended himself. "If I did, I would have been caught and not been standing here right now, and we didn't have time to sneak through the gardens. They could have cut us off for sure!" He huffed. "Forget it, we know where we need to go now."

"Yeah? And where?"

"To save the Deku Princess in the temple."

"Woah, woah woahhhh, wait a minute... We do _not_ have time to be saving Princesses. In case you haven’t notice kid, we don't have a lot of _time_. Saving the Princess won’t matter if we all get squished."

"The Dekus won’t tell us anything unless we get her back. Besides, the temple is the reason the swamp is like this, and you said it yourself, the poison has been recent. Ever since Skull Kid went awry. Isn't this adding up to anything for you? Skull Kid did something here which trapped one of the 'four' your brother told us to call."

"But--"

" _And,_ " Link continued, "Since you helped get Skull Kid the mask in the first place Tatl, it’s your responsibility to at least help fix what has happened here."

"We can fix it _later_ when we _don’t_ have a time to fix it now!" Tatl persisted.

Link sighed, turning away from the rebellious little fairy back to the monkey. "So what is the quickest way to get to the temple?" He heard Tatl let out a frustrated sigh.

"Mm? You really want to go?" The monkey asked. "That monster is really large and scary, though! You’re barely taller than his foot and you’re just a kid!"

"Trust me, I have already proven many times that neither my size nor my age means nothing. I’ve done it several times before and I will do I plan to do it again." Link said confidently. The monkey scratched his head as he looked at the boy curiously. "If you say so… follow me."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Link and Tatl followed the monkey through the swamp, the creature finding a dry way up towards the mountain. Link could see when they got up close to it, that there was poisonous water coming out from the sides of it via a waterfall. The place stank so horribly, that sometimes at points Link had to stop because his head was spinning from the lack of clear air and the fact he was inhaling the venomous toxins. He did his best to hold his breath at times because of how badly it stank let alone the fact the air was poisonous. Unfortunately, the entire trip to the mountain was bad and it only got worse when they were climbing up to the summit.

Eventually they did reach the top, and Link was constantly looking up towards the sky, looking at the moon and the sun’s position; although that became hard for an hour when the sun dipped behind the moon, and the entire place was shrouded in a darkened shadow for an hour like a total eclipse. Almost dark enough like it was night It was just a little bit past noon by the time they arrived.

"There is the temple, look!"

The monkey pointed, Link looked ahead of him, seeing a mossy, stone structure sticking out from all of the poisonous water. Platforms arched up to the doorway of the temple which would allow Link access to the inside.

"What a dump. I heard this is the area where the Deku's worshiped their deity, but so much for that." Tatl observed. "This place looks like it hasn't been used for ages."

"The Princess must be in there somewhere..." The monkey said. "The temple may look small, but it goes underneath the swamp and inside the mountain too. Let’s go save her!"

"Wait a minute… me and Tatl will do this. You stay out of the temple."

"Keek! Why?!" The monkey screeched, looking at Link angrily, almost like the child betrayed him.

"I don’t mean to be disrespectful to you, honest. But what can you do against a giant monster?"

The monkey was silent for a moment. His expression obviously looking for an answer, some sort of excuse, but the little animal soon just sighed. "It's true..." He admitted. "When the monster came, the Princess and I were not prepared for it. All I could do was watch. She told me to go tell her father, but all that ended up happening was the King thinking I kidnapped her... Fine, I understand. I will do as you say. But I can't stay here either. The smell of the swamp and it's poison will be too much if I stay too long."

"I understand. And sorry." Link apologized sincerely.

Carefully walking his way along the platforms that lead up to the temple entrance, making sure not to fall in and lose balance as the monkey watched the boy and the fairy both disappear inside.

Link was a little bit more relieved and sucked in a breath when he entered the temple and the smell had nearly vanished. The air still felt musky and stale, but it beat the poison swamp by a long shot. The air inside the temple was cool as well, which was a welcoming change from the humid air of the swamp that made it feel like a jungle or a rain forest in the noon sun. If they weren't so pressed for time, Link would have taken a few moments to sit down just to relax before getting to work inside the temple.  
  
A soft slithering like sound reached his ears and he looked around slowly. He only now realized that the room was quite dark, although the darkness did not rob him of his sight entirely, he had to squint to make out some things in the distance clearly. He heard the slithering sound again from behind him, and quickly spun himself around, only to see nothing. "...Do you hear that?"

Link soon felt something brush up against his bare leg, which almost made it lose feeling. He yelped, stepping away from the touch spinning around with weapons drawn, expecting to see some wispy creature of some description. It was a wispy creature, but not a menacing one at all. Instead, it was only a tiny black smokey ball with amber eyes that looked up at him. The creature didn't even reach past his knees. Link only stood almost awestruck. The creature was nearly invisible in the darkness, but stood out due to the glowing eyes that looked up at Link curiously. 

  
"I... err..."  
"Tatl...? What is that?"

"It's a black boe. It's an evil creature and completely weak." She informed. "You could probably step on it and you'd cripple the thing."

"Evil? But it looks... kind of cute..." Link mumbled, as the boe simply blinked as it looked up at him. "How can such a creature like this possibly be evil?"

"Well... usually they attack and swarm and are quite aggressive..." Tatl began to lecture. "They will attack people until they are dead. And this one isn't alone. It's probably waiting for the rest of the swarm to come before it strikes. I sense others around but they aren't nearby just yet. You should ignore it and... -- ...just... what are you doing...?"

Link was now kneeling down to level himself more with the black poe that had slithered towards him like some kind of stray kitten. Not only was it giving Link curious look, but the boy himself seemed to be just as curious in the creature as well. Link soon put down his sword on the ground and extended his left hand out to the creature. This did not sit well with Tatl.

"Are you _nuts?!_ Why are you trying to make friends with it?!"

"Come on Tatl, this thing can't possibly be of any threat to -- _Ouch!_ "

Link jerked his hand back as he held his sore index finger that the black boe had just bitten, holding it tightly against his chest.

"Humph! Maybe that will teach you to actually listen to me next time! I told you that these things aren't good business!"  
  
Link muttered under his breath as he grabbed the Kokiri sword from the ground, he stared at the puff of black smoke that blinked at him innocently with its amber eyes. "Maybe... but I can hardly bring myself to kill something that possess so little of a threat..." He muttered, as the little black boe quickly slithered away off into the darkness of the temple.

"Forget it... let's just go before the rest of their swarm show up." Tatl sighed. Link took her word for it and turned himself around walking deeper inside the temple, walking towards a door that was at the other end of the room. As he got closer to it, he heard a sound above him. He looked up and nearly yelped in surprise again, diving sideways towards the door, as he rolled past two Skulltula's that dropped down right near he had been standing. Link stood up with a jolt as both spiders looked at he and Tatl, but made of course could not move towards him, looking at where they had come from, he could see that both spider-looking monsters were hanging by a thread of tough string above them.

"Tell me you at least know about Skulltulas..." Tatl began.

"Yes, I know about them. Hard shell, soft belly..." Link sighed. It's not like he hadn't done this before...

"Then are you going to fight them, or run?"

"Well, they're both guarding the door... but they're far enough away that I think I can squeeze through them. It's not like they have enough momentum to swing at me..." Link said thoughtfully. "Besides, we're on a time limit, both for the moon and possibly the princess. And I'm still recovering from that poison." It wasn't like walking through the humid swamp with all the noxious gas being left up from the poison was exactly the healthiest way to recover.

He edged his way against the wall to the door, Link opened it and stepped through to the next room. Both he and Tatl soon wretched as Link grimaced and covered about his mouth and plugged his nose in disgust. He let out a groan as the smell was even worse in this room than that of the poison swamp. He walked forwards a bit with Tatl in tow. Link stared at a giant wooden shrine in front of him. To his disappointment as he feared, there was water surrounding it. By the blotchy purple hue it contained, Link could only assume the water was thick with the poison, possibly even worse than the swamp itself if the temple was the source of it all.

"Wonderful..." Link drawled sarcastically. "Well, the Princess and monkey were right, seems like the temple is what is outsourcing the poison..."

"Now we have to find what is the source of the poison..." Tatl said thoughtfully as she looked around. "There's another door over here, why don't you try going there for now?"

Tatl flew over to the door she mentioned, and Link followed her, going down a ramp as he hastily opened the door to get away from the smell; but he wasn't pleased with the contents inside this door either. There was a wooden walkway above the water in a cross shape, which too unfortunately was housing poisonous water, and at that, quite deep compared to that of the room previously and the rest of the swamp. Ahead of them, to Link's disappointment, was a giant stone block in the way in the middle of the intersection of the boardwalk. It was at least twice or three times the size he was. Tatl flew over to it, examining the stone.

"Hmm, this looks light enough for you to push. What are you doing standing there, get to work!"

"You want me to move _that?_ " Link demanded.

"Well, I would help, except I'm a bit too small. Come on, you're a boy aren't you? Quit being lazy!" She taunted.

Link groaned in disapproval, but he sheathed his sword and shield on his back and stepped up to the block. He planted himself against it and with an exerted grunt, pushed with all of his might. His feet slid and slipped against the rotting wood he stood on as he squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth in effort. Little by little, he managed to slowly slide the block forwards out of the way. With one final grunt from the effort, he managed to push it completely enough that he could squeeze past. He turned around and leaned against the stone against him, panting in exhaustion.

 _"Ugh... pushing stuff was much easier when I was an adult... that or it's the poison..."_ Link thought to himself distastefully. He didn't want to stay here breathing these fumes in though. So he pushed himself off the block and kept moving. He walked his way forwards up some stairs that took them back to the second floor, although in an entirely different room. Link walked through a hallway and was soon squinting as the light became weaker and weaker. Eventually, the only reason he could see was thanks to Tatl's glow which cast Link's shadow to be long and gloomy. Link however was glad that the smell of the poison had soon diminished with each step away they took from that room. The air was stale and dry once again. A welcoming change strangely enough, that allowed him to breathe in more easily.

"W-Wait a minute... hold up." Tatl suddenly stopped him, her voice sounding worried. Link turned around and gave her a questioning look. "There's a lot of evil in here. Get your weapons ready..."

Link took her word for it and readied his armaments again as he held in place. He soon heard a faint slithering sound and recognized it immediately. Boes. However unlike before, there were multiple. Perhaps nearly two dozen or so, but maybe more as they blended in too well with the darkness to really see other than their occasionally blinking amber eyes. Link could only just make out slight movement only a few feet ahead of him, and instinctively cried out as he slashed forwards with his sword, cutting as many as four black boe's with one swing. Even that however didn't seem to weaken the black blotch on the ground that was trailing towards him. Link lashed out a few more times with his sword, striking many more down, but they kept coming and the Hylian was forced to take a few steps back to gain more distance.

"By Farore's grace, how many of them are there?!"

"I told you that they attack in huge swarms!" Tatl scolded him. "Don't start just freaking out, there's simply a lot of them, that's all there is to it!"

Link slashed several times more, but he was soon beginning to get surrounded by them and quite quickly. He winced as he felt little nits and pricks as the boe's began biting him and even so much as climbing up his legs. He shivered at the deathly feel of them coming in contact with their skin, despite that feeling being painless it was uncomfortable. He did his best to kick them off but the clung on tightly.

" _Grahh!_ Enough of this!"

Link held his sword back while gritting his teeth in both anger or effort. His blade soon took up a dull blue aura around it before the aura pulsed and thickened around his weapon. Link swung the sword out, standing on one foot...

 

_**"Kaiten-gari ! !"** _

 

He spun around viciously, making several rotations as the energy from his sword released around him. Tatl shrieked in both surprise and fear as she flew just out of the way of the spinning child. Every boe was destroyed from the attack. Link soon planted his other foot on the ground again to stop his spinning as he looked ahead of the room again seeing it was completely clear, he sheathed his weapons on his back again, almost casually, as he rubbed at his bare arms and legs, trying to get the numb feeling of the boes that had made contact with him off.

"Didn't know you could use magic..." Tatl muttered a bit in surprise.

Link only shrugged in response to her as she flew ahead of him, using her light to guide him. They soon found a door and walked inside of it. The moment they got through, bars slammed down from the hinges of the door. Link and Tatl both spun around instantly, staring at the door.

"...Locked in..." Link grumbled, knowing very well what that meant most likely. He spun around and clenched his teeth as he soon saw a Dinofols drop down from the ceiling. A reptile like creature, that had an exoskeleton very much like a human, being able to preform all the actions a normal human could preform. Its intelligence was quite high as well. Such creatures were capable of not only wearing armor for battle, but able to hold weapons and use them effectively too.

"A Dinofols...?" Tatl whispered in surprise.

"Those are supposed to live in hot cavern type areas like a volcano... Just what is it doing in here in a swamp environment?"

Link and Tatl watched steadily as the reptile shrieked at the two. Boasting its strength and hunger for combat. Its head pointed up into the air as it breathed a jet of flame from its mouth and then starred at the two of them. Its eyes gleamed at Link, as if ordering the child to draw his weapons to fight. Link knew that stare very well, a stare that he had communicated with plenty of monsters that were incapable of speech, but knew the look of a challenge. He let out a ' _Tch!_ ' and drew his sword and shield accordingly. Positioning himself into a stance for combat. "You want a fight? Fine..."

Link walked his way cautiously forward, his weapons poised in case the beast made any sudden moves towards him. A serpent-like tongue left the Dinofol's mouth as it hissed at Link. The child fixed the weight on his feet as the Dinofols suddenly jumped towards him. Link dived sideways to his right out of the way as the scimitar the beast held as a weapon only struck the stone floor with a clang.  
  
The creature spun around to face Link who had was already counterattacking with a overhead slash of his own. The Dinofols held the scimitar up blocking the Kokiri word with a clash. Link continued his offense by spinning around and throwing a slash from his left to his right. Once again, the attack was met with the scimitar and deflected away. The Dinofols took the opportunity to Link's exposed left side, slashing at his left hip quickly. Link leaned his body back, collapsing his back on the stone floor, which allowed the slash to go overhead of him. He continued to move his weight which allowed him to roll backwards where he gracefully landed on his feet and rose up to stand on the ground firmly again.  
  
Link half knelt down, shield in front of him as the Dinofols rushed towards him again. Link soon smirked as the Dinofols prepared to swing once again. Link jumped out of the way as much as his feet could push him and with his right hand while gripping his shield revealed a Deku Nut in his grip. He landed on the ground, as the reptile was charging at him again.

"Surprise!"

Link covered his eyes with his left hand, as a loud snap echoed throughout the room. The Dinofols screeched out in pain from the bright light the nut had emitted upon cracking. Uncovering his eyes, Link rushed towards the Dinofols, and as powerful as he could, slashed towards the reptile with an underhanded thrust.  
  
The reptile screeched and hissed in pain as green reptilian blood dripped onto Link's blade. It swung in Link's direction blindly whom ejected the sword from its body and held his shield up just in time to deflect the swing that was aimed right at his head. The reptile took in a breath and a jet of fire rushed towards Link. The Hylian had no choice but to leap back out of the way.  
  
The Dinofols was injured, but unfortunately for Link the armor it had wore had severely weakened the blow. Still, the injury had been at its right kidney. The wound was sure to cripple the fighting capabilities the monster had.  
  
Vision seemed to return to the Dinofols as it hopped towards Link's left, trying to take his weaker defensive side yet again. Link held his shield up ready. The Dinofol's swung out, but faked it just as Link was ready to parry it with his shield. Link pushed his shield forward expecting contact, but gasped as the Dinofols jumped up over his head and behind him. Link fortunately was able to gain his defense again as the reptile swung again, Link's shield stopping any damage. But the Hylian child gasped out as he struggled to move his left leg, felt it pull out from under him, and he collapsed on his back onto the ground in a watery puddle as water splashed around him. He felt his leg jerk upwards, as he looked, seeing the Dinofols had its tail wrapped around his leg.  
  
Being unable to move his leg, Link could do little to defend it as the Dinofol's prepared to swing its scimitar right on it, plans to decapitate his leg entirely. Link quickly dug into his shirt with his left hand as the thrust was incoming, and whipped out another Deku nut. The nut smacked the Dinofol's in the right eye, and dropped to the ground, not hard enough in contact with the floor to break. The Dinofol's yelped out, rearing its head back in pain. Link with a grunt from the effort jerked his leg towards him, pulling the creature closer and making it stumble forwards, on a collision course to land on top of Link. Link held his sword out in front of him as the creature fell forward, and landed on top of Link and was skewered by the Kokiri sword. It let out a weak gasp and croak. Opening its mouth as an attempt to breathe fire at the child who only narrowed his eyes in anger as he thrust the sword in deeper. The only thing that came out of the beasts mouth was saliva mixed with more blood that dribbled down its mouth as Link's sword had stabbed right through its heart. Link soon with another grunt, pushed the beast off of him to his side as he pulled the sword out from the reptile. Green blood dyed the Kokiri sword as Link grimaced in disgust. He walked over towards the deepest puddle of water he could find, and began rinsing his sword off as he left the creature to writhe. Death would claim it in a moment or two...

 

"Wow... That was... um.... brutal..." Tatl commented, eying the beast that quickly grew silent and still.

"I can't show mercy in a fight to the death. It would get me killed. If I lost, I wouldn't expect the beast grant me mercy, either. It's almost like a warrior's code. A fight to the death is a fight to the death." Link stated matter-of-factly, as he bent down to pick up the nut that he threw at his foe's face, tucking it back in his tunic. "Good thing Skull Kid didn't steal any of these. They're quite handy."

"You uh... did... pretty good. I guess you are a hero after all..." She complimented."...How long have you been doing this stuff for?"

Link shook the water off the sword as the puddle was now dyed green. "Uh... a... while." Link answered as best he could. There really wasn't much of a proper answer to that question. "I mean... I didn't get called the Hero of _Time_ for no reason..."

"...Who are you anyways?" Tatl answered, almost suspiciously.

"The first time I did this kind of stuff doesn't exist... My soul rested seven years to go into the future to do all of that. I was granted the chance to live my childhood again as I should have since I missed the chance while my soul and body was in stasis, so I took it.

"But it isn't the same anymore. I've lost too much of my innocence I had before with what I had seen and been forced to experience along with the responsibilities I've had to carry... much like right now... I don't know what I should consider real or just fiction anymore.  
"It's just like when I sent us back in time before the moon fell. That doesn't exist anymore. It's void, yet we still have the memory of it to us. Should we consider it reality when it didn't happen to anyone else? Is there even a logical answer?"

"Okay, okay, stop. You're making my head hurt." Tatl pleaded. "I don't want to think about all of this timey-wimey stuff. It defies logic."

Link chuckled, as he stood up, sword shining and clean once again as he gave it a few test swings before putting it in its sheath along with his shield on his back. "Let's just get going. We still have a job to do."

Both made their way to the door, which was far more massive in size compared to the rest of the doors. Link slowly opened them he and Tatl went through, and they closed by themselves, causing Link to gulp. The atmosphere was different somehow...

The room was massive. Many tribal patterns were painted throughout the entire room or were sculpted into the floor or walls. A sort of low, tribal drumbeat echoed throughout the room. It started off soft, becoming slowly louder and more furious, the tempo picking up with every beat that was heard. Link and Tatl looked around the room, trying to find the source. Link finally looked up and gasped as he pointed for Tatl to see as a large figure soon fell down from the roof of the room. Crashing into the floor on it's two feet. It stood several times taller than Link, wielding a large blade and a kite shield for its weapons. Link examined the body that had many tribal paintings and tattoo's, and to his amazement, the body was made out of wood. The large wooden man moved, standing up as the face "exposed" to look at Link and Tatl though his face was really that of a mask. This giant tribal man towered over them. A booming voice echoed throughout the room, as if it was coming from all around, rather than the giant figure in front of them both.

 

  
**_"Mortals... You seek me out in my own shrine?"_ **

****

****

"What... what -- no... _who_ are you?" Link asked cautiously, looking up at the tall form staring down at him like he was but a tiny bug.

 

 

_**"You do not know of me? What kind of ignorant mortal are you?  
"I am Odolwa. I am the god of Woodfall. What you foolish inhabitants label as 'monster' as if I am a lesser of a being as you are."** _

****

****

"Odolwa..." Link repeated as he narrowed his eyes. "So, you were the one who has kidnapped the Deku Princess...?"

 

 

_**"Kidnap? Do not make me laugh, child...  
"The Dekus have been neglecting me sacrifices. So I decided to take their leader's daughter as punishment. As well, they can enjoy dehydration until I get the respect I deserve. If not, the girl will do as a sacrifice, as is long overdue..."** _

 

 

" _What?!_ That's ridiculous!"

 

 

  _ **"What is it with my actions that makes you question me with your feeble mind, human?"**_

__

__

"You can't just label yourself as a deity and then use that title to do whatever you want!"

 

 

_**"I can. And I will. I am not a weak, useless being like you mortals. I have been worshiped because I am all powerful. I have been worshiped because I am immortal. I make the laws. If there is something I don't like and you mortals neglect my desires, there will be repercussions as punishment. Mere mortals don't get a say in the matter.  
"The only reason you still stand before me now, is because I find it amusing,  boy."** _

__

__

Link growled angrily and unsheathed the Kokiri sword from its scabbard. In anger, he swung the sword and pointed it straight in the direction Odolwa, pointing the tip of the weapon at the masked face. The self-proclaimed god of the swamp let out a low chuckle, that soon erupted in a laugh that echoed throughout the room. The laugh calmed down when he saw Link still standing there with the sword pointed at him determined, the blade not even showing any signs of wavering.

 

 

_**"You cannot possibly be serious, boy. You are not only a pathetic mortal, but just a mere child. Yet you have dared to challenge me?  
"Go home. I shall grant you mercy and let your disrespectful antics slide."** _

__

__

"Disrespectful antics? Hah. 'Could have fooled me.  
"You are nothing more than a large wooden puppet, yet you think you can be as arrogant as you please and that you can pull strings to manipulate the lives of others?" 

Odolwa's eyes narrowed on his mask. The wood creaked from the movement as he stared at Link, who soon lowered the sword at his side. The Hylian boy soon smirked as he stared up at the giant figure.

"I'm still here because you allow it? Don't make such empty boasts. I'm still here not because you allow it Odolwa, I'm still here because I _choose_ to still be here!  
"If you are so much opposed to the words I say, then just go ahead and try me then! I dare you to try and remove me from this room, Odolwa! For a 'god' it should be but a simple task after all? Or am I wrong?"

 

 

_**"You are jesting me, child."** _

__

__

"You're not a deity...  
"A deity looks after their people...  
"A deity is a greater form that us mortals can look up to for guidance...  
"A real deity is the people's guardian angel. You are nothing but a selfish monster seeking more than your worth, just like someone else I already had to dispose of back at my own home land. Grow up and learn your place in the world. You're actions reflect that of a childish playground bully."

  

 

 _ **"ENOUGH!!"**_  
  
_**"You ignorant brat! You dare come in my shrine, call me a puppet and label me as a playground CHILD?! You should have wasted your life bathing in the venom of the swamp. It would be far less painful than the death I am about to give to you!!"**_

__

__

" _Hahahahah!_ Really? You're just going to threaten me now?" Link chuckled as he smirked. "Is that the power a 'god' has? Try all you want Odolwa, but your presence will never intimidate me. If it's anything I've learned about my existence so far, I dare say that despite my age and size and being a 'mere mortal' as you say, it would be that I am more of a god than you are!"

Link held his sword up and poised in both of his hands, angling it, ready strike as he gripped it tightly. His face serious and determined, a threatening tone in his voice as he spoke.

"Only one of us will be left standing in this room by the end of the hour. I follow the will of _real_ gods. The three goddesses of the Triforce, Din, Nayru and Farore! The will I hear from them right now is to obliterate you for your crimes...  
"Prepare yourself for total annihilation, Odolwa! I will never forgive you for the suffering you have caused to all of the inhabitants in this swamp because of your greed!!"

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Woodfall temple's layout is quite simplistic. If I made the dungeons full size, it'd take me a month just to write all the text for Link to go through it. Besides, as far a plot goes, temples if they were extremely long would just become needless filler.
> 
> In Majora's Mask 3DS, Odolwa looks a lot more like a giant human. But in the Nintendo 64, I always saw him as being wooden -- especially since the Deku scrubs in the game are made out of wood as well.
> 
> And then there's the eye on the back of his head now... Let's uh... not get in to that. Maybe if I actually owned the 3DS version, but I don't (yet), so I can't really write about it. Let's just stick to the Nintendo 64 (and manga) version. The eye was probably made so you couldn't just defeat him by throwing two bomb flowers at him anyways.


	7. Chapter 6: Odolwa; The Self-Proclaimed God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link has challenged the "God of Woodfall" in a duel, that only one of them will step out of the temple alive - immortal giant, versus mortal child.

 

 

__

__

__

__

_**"Do you think there's others out there, Link?"**_  
  
_**"What do you mean by that, Saria?"**_  
  
_**"With my sage duties, I've been thinking... are there other worlds out there? Others similar to ours?"**_  
  
_**"Do you mean other planets like ours? Or, something else?"**_  
  
_**"I suppose... something else... like uh, an alternate reality I guess. I don't mean it in a way of different timelines exactly, I mean it more like... um... oh, this is so hard to explain. Never mind, forget it, it's not important Link."**_  
  
_**"Hahah, don't worry, I think I know what you mean Saria. After all, who knows what all of the gods are capable of?"**_  
  
_**"Do you think Ganondorf thought of himself as a god?"**_  
  
_**"He probably did. But just because he ruled, didn't mean he was one at all. He was just another mortal, like the rest of us."**_  
  
_**"Then what about you, Link? What do you think you are?"**_  
  
_**"Me...?  
... ... ..."**_  
  
_**"Link?"**_  
  
_**"... ... ...**_  
__**I... don't want to sound rude but... I think on a simplistic level of it all, I'm merely a tool for them..."**

 

 

 

 

 

 

Odolwa let out a furious cry at Link's words. The 'god' sprinted towards Link in anger which... with how big the monster was, caused the ground to rumble every footfall. The boy reached for his shield as Odolwa swung down the sword as if it was a simple normal blade, but in reality it was four of five times Link's size. Link quickly dived out of the way as the large metal weapon slammed into the stone temple floor, breaking chunks and cracking the surrounding area from the impact. Link rolled up into a kneeling position from his dive. Tatl shrieked in horror at the sight of the damage Odolwa's weapon had done to the floor. "Oh my gosh, you're an idiot! Why did you have to make him angry, Link?!"

"Tatl, not to be rude, but... don't start pestering me now! Just observe him and tell me if you find any weaknesses! Let me concentrate!"

Odolwa raised his sword again and swung towards Link, who quickly back flipped out of the way from the swing where the tip of the blade just narrowly missed; the monster's blade merely inches away from splitting Link in half. The child landed on his feet, but Odolwa followed up with the kite shield rushing towards. Link only had time to gasp as it felt like he had just slammed into a wall at full speed. He felt himself thrown from the shield as he went skidding across the stone ground on his back. He barked back a cry of pain as he slid to a stop, propping himself up onto his elbows as he stared at Odolwa.

 

 

_**"Pathetic. You challenged and boasted to me... and this is the best you can do? Now do you see my power, fool?"** _

 

 

Link couldn't help but grin and soon began to let out a childish laugh. Odolwa was clearly not amused, seen by the expression on the wooden face he wore. Link continued to let out chuckles as he laughed out loud. "This is hilarious! You still call yourself a god, yet your movements are the same as any other human! You're just a lot bigger and nothing more! How could you possibly call yourself a god when we have to apply to the same rules in combat as any other mortal?"

 

 

**_"Quit mocking me, boy!!"_ **

 

 

Odolwa began sprinting towards Link as the child pushed himself up off the ground to stand on both of his feet ready to dodge, the floor trembling slightly with every footfall Odolwa made. Link waited until the last second of the giant sword coming down towards him before he dived forwards towards the large monster, the sword crashing into the floor behind him. He rolled forwards and with another leap to finish off the distance, he shouted out nearing Odolwa's ankle, he thrust the Kokiri sword as hard as he could with the momentum gained from his dive. The sword stabbed into the wood and with another angry shout, ripped the sword through the ankle sideways; the wood splitting and slicing away. Odolwa howled in rage. His foot rising up to attempt to stomp on Link. The child looked up quickly, side jumping out of the way as the foot crashed down. Despite Link's skills in dodging and avoiding attacks though, some just could not be avoided due to Odolwa's size. The giant proceeded with his other foot, lashing out with a harsh kick that nailed Link straight in his side. This time he could not help but cry out in pain from the contact as he was sent flying, crashing into the floor with sprawled rolls until he collided with moderate speed into the wall with his shoulder. He grit his teeth in pain as he rolled himself on his stomach, clutching at his side with his left hand while he still gripped the sword and pushed himself back up slowly.

"Gh... damn...!" Link grunted, one eye clenched shut as he held his throbbing side that more or less got clubbed. _"How can I get close to him without taking a hit myself...? I'm predicting his moves, but because of his size there's no way I can block or counter attack the way I'm used to... Besides that, the only areas I can attack are his feet or ankles... I can't take him out that way... the weakest point is the head for any humanoid... how can I reach up there though...?"_

 

 

_**"Are you beginning to tire child? Do you regret challenging me yet?"** _

 

 

Link only glared at Odolwa, teeth clenched angrily.

 

 

_**"Perhaps it's time I end this game and begin the process of your long, painful death, boy."** _

 

 

"Yeah, sure. Go right ahead. I'm waiting." Link taunted in a mocking tone. In the monster's annoyance, Odolwa stomped his good foot on the ground, which shook the room a little. Link wobbled and waved his arms around to maintain his balance as he began to stand until the shaking of the room subsided.

"What are you doing?" Link chuckled. "Are you throwing a temper tant--"

"Link! Above you!!" Tatl suddenly shrieked off in the distance.

Link glanced up and quickly sprinted out of the way as a chunk of the ceiling nearly crashed right on top of him. Odolwa continued to stomp his foot rapidly, as chunks of the structure above crashed around him everywhere. Link did his best to avoid it, but with nearly no balance due to the shaking room, he barely could move himself to avoid the falling rubble. Eventually a piece large stone landed and exploded into chunks and pieces on contact with the floor right in front of him. He shouted out as he was thrown back against the wall by a chunk of rubble hitting him. Before he had time to push himself away from the wall, he felt Odolwa's fist around his neck -- and the other upper half of his body. The monster began to squeeze. Link craned his head back and attempted to gasp in air before he let out a choking sound at the pressure around his throat. Struggle as he might, there was no way he was simply going to overpower Odolwa's grip -- and with the way the hand was around him, he was hardly able to put any momentum into his sword. He tried to stab the monster's wrist, but it barely made a dent since he was unable to really move his arm ahead of him. The defiant action of trying to stab him only caused Odolwa to squeeze harder to the point that Link heard himself breathlessly cry out in pain as his bones were under the pressure of being crushed.

 

 

  
_**"What's wrong, boy? Are you unable to make any pathetic quips now?  
I will enjoy breaking you  slowly... Listening to every bone on your body cracking and snapping under the very power that you underestimated...!"** _

 

 

Link's feet kicked and squirmed, scraping against the wall as his left hand slowly went underneath his tunic where he slowly gripped the Deku nut he previously retrieved when he used it against the Dinofols. He felt the pressure apply even harder and croaked out another groan in pain. He heard Odolwa respond with a laugh at the sound Link made when he squeezed tighter. That was when Link whipped the Deku nut by throwing it backwards as hard as he could at the wall behind him. Odolwa roared in surprise and pain at the bright flash that was emitted with the deafening snap that gave the sound that the Hylian's plan worked, releasing Link as both of his hands went up to cup his eyes as he stumbled backwards. Link slid down the wall, collapsing on his hands and knees as he gasped for breath in rapid pants. During the time he struggled to recover, Tatl flew down beside him.

"Dammit kid! I swore you was done for! How many of those things do you have?"

"...That... that was my last one... Good thing I remembered to pick it up..."

"...Oh."

"I was planning to save it so I could maybe find a way to get at Odolwa's head... but now I'm completely out of ideas... I'll just have to make him fall... _somehow..._ "

Link glanced up as he soon heard Odolwa chanting something. The giant was dancing, of all things. His arms stretched out open at shoulder height, the giant form jumping back and forth quickly with his feet going on one and then the other while spinning clockwise. Link thought it looked ridiculous, but dreaded what was going on, knowing Odolwa has had enough of him. He soon heard a buzzing noise above him. He looked up as a giant swarm of moths was forming and soon aiming straight for him.

"...Oh you've got to be _kidding_ me...! Where is all this crap even coming from?!"

Link from where he was compared to Odolwa could only watch as the wooden giant now began waving his arms around. Giant spider like bugs with a blue carapace began dropping down from the ceiling as well. Link's blue eyes only widened at the sight of what he now had to put up with.

"Nope! He's not kidding!" Tatl supplied.

"Yeah, thanks for that information Tatl...!"

 

 

_**"Has fear finally overcome your ignorance, child? You will die here--"** _

 

 

"Oh, just shut up already. I've heard it all before...!" Link barked annoyed. Honestly, all these evil beings and 'immortals' had the same thing to say... Odolwa let out a loud growl in rage from Link's response nonetheless. As all the insects were moving closer to Link, the Hylian could only hug against the wall as he was surrounded by the giant hulking Odolwa in front of him, the giant insects to his left and the large mass of aggressive moths to his right. Link felt sweat roll down the left side of his face. Despite his talk, he didn't know what he could do. He was wearing down fast and he doubt he could do anything to get past Odolwa without being kicked back into the wall; if the weapon didn't chop him up and if the giant didn't feel like simply squishing him.

"I'll see if I can distract those moths and give you an opening. Hang on a sec!" Tatl whispered into his ear. Link glanced as the fairy sped off flying straight through the center of the cloud of moths. She flew so fast, she looked like a glowing shooting star. Link glanced at Odolwa before sprinting off towards Tatl's direction. As the fairy flew by, the moths parted away as if avoiding getting hit. Link followed right behind her while he heard Odolwa let out a roar. Link dove himself forward, letting out a grunt when his stomach collided with stone floor as he heard Odolwa's sword strike right behind him. Link rolled himself up in his back, but cried out when Odolwa's foot slammed down right on his stomach.

His eyes bulged from the pain as a breathless gasp for air escaped him. In retaliation, he gripped his Kokiri sword with both hands, stabbing it down onto Odolwa's foot that was on him. The self-proclaimed god huffed out in pain but the damage wasn't enough to dissuade him to get off. He began to put all of his weight down onto Link. The child let out another cry of pain, removing the blade from Odolwa's foot, he charged up energy, the blade glowing a soft blue like last time...

 

**"Kai... Kai _ten-gari...!"_**

 

He thrust down once more with more strength than before. The blade with the magical energy surrounding it nearly stabbed through Odolwa's foot like a knife through butter. The monster cried out in agony, finally removing his foot from Link's body, the monster tumbled back before collapsing down on one knee, Odolwa's right hand held the damaged foot.

 

 

_**"Ridiculous... absolutely ridiculous! How can a mere child hold such magical powers?!"** _

 

 

Link slowly propped himself up with his left elbow to get up off the floor somewhat, as his right hand clutched his stomach that was aching from Odolwa stomping on him. Link panted tired gasps as he spoke.

"Didn't you listen, Odolwa...? I told you that I was more of a god than you are... that I follow _real_ gods... My power comes from them...!"

Standing up slowly, Link still clutched his stomach as he breathed through shaky inhales. He wondered if Odolwa was capable of feeling fatigue too. It didn't look like it, though... It only seemed like the monster was only able to feel pain and emotions. Link was panting and sweating at this point. Being poisoned as he was before did not help his condition. He felt sick to his stomach, if it being stomped on mercilessly by a giant like that had anything to say to that.  
  
Then he heard something behind him; like skittering. He glanced back and quickly dived forward out of the way to gain distance from the bugs that managed to sneak behind him.

_"D-Dammit... I can't sit idle at all. I have to either take these bugs out, or keep moving. I won't get a chance to even get a few seconds of catching my breath with them around..."_

Since his back was turned to Odolwa to look at the newer opposition, the monster decided to take the opportunity to attack. Link thankfully glanced back and once again, was forced to move out of the way from the swing that followed. Link turned around to face Odolwa, the monster continued to swing like mad at Link, who only just managed to dodge each over handed swing that crashed into the ground. The Hylian was quickly wearing down. After a series of slashes, Odolwa did a wide side sweep slash. There was nothing Link could do to dodge it. He could only hold out his shield and braced himself for the oncoming impact. He shouted out from the force as it knocked him off of his feet.

"U-wahh...!"

Link went rolling backwards and skidded on the floor until he made a light impact with the wall. He lay there for a moment. His energy had been nearly completely drained, if not from feeling a bit dizzy. Still, he pushed his body to go on. With a groan, he slowly managed to prop himself on his elbows off his back. His left hand came up as he shook his head to clear his wavering vision from having rolled so much. He glanced to his left... his blue eyes lit up and gleamed mischievously at what he saw beside him.

_Why, hello there, bomb flower... I think I know what I can do with this~!"_

Link slowly stood himself up to both of his legs, sheathing his shield behind his back, but he kept his sword out, gripping the weapon with two hands as he held himself ready in stance. With what he planned, there would be no blocking with his shield involved. Link hoped that his ragged breathing would be bait enough for Odolwa to not notice the bomb flower standing near him. Link slowly positioned himself so he was in front of the bomb flower, hoping his small enough form was enough to hide it from view.

_"_ __Come closer, Odolwa...!"_ _

As Link had hoped, Odolwa marched closer to him. Link let out the smallest of smirks as he faked out a yell of pain, grabbing his side and nearly collapsing on one knee. Link squeezed his left eye shut in pain, and used his right to look at Odolwa. A grimace shown on his face.

 

 

_**"Hmph. Goodnight, child."** _

 

 

Odolwa raised his right foot, the giant intended to crush Link to end him. Link's left eye opened up as he let out a short laugh; thrusting his sword into the bomb flower behind him and _immediately_ diving out of the way before the foot came down on top of him. Link heard an explosion -- he felt it even. The force of it threw him off course as he tumbled hard into the ground. He managed to catch himself face down with his arms as his head spun around to look at the result of Odolwas foot stomping onto the explosion of the bomb. The result for the wooden giant was not pleasant. His entire right foot had been blown away from the ankle down. The giant roared in absolute agony, collapsing to sit on the ground, his right arm propping himself up. Link pushed himself hurriedly off the ground despite his body feeling like it weighed a ton, he forced himself to sprint towards Odolwa, his sword gripped in both hands and angled on his left side. He dashed up Odolwa's left leg, the giant only now noticing the child attacking, but it was too late. Link jumped off the leg towards Odolwa's face with his sword gleaming over his head; an aura of fierce blue magic surrounding it, as face as the blue eyes that stared him down in the monster's final moments.

 

_**"PERISH ! ! !"** _

 

It all seemed to have happened in slow motion. Link in the air, swinging his sword down... The wooden giant's eyes, widening in fear for his 'immortality' was about to end in the next second...

 

_**S L I C E ! !** _

 

Odolwa screamed, standing straight up into the air it would seem even though the monster had only one foot. Link yelped as he rolled right off of the giant's face and crashed into the floor from a drop that was at least fifteen feet high. Link looked up from the floor as Odolwa floated in the air, his body beginning to burn up as if it were on fire; but Link saw no flames. Odolwa's body, on exception to the face, was completely dissolving...

 

 

_**"Noo...! NNOOOOO--!! This is IMPOSSIBLE!!... You're just... a m-mortal...! You human creatures... are but... slaves to us gods...!"** _

 

 

Odolwa's cry of death was rather nightmarish as Link heard it inside of his head through the kind of telepathy the creature had been using the communicate to him the entire time. It caused him to shiver, especially in the way that it just faded away from being able to hear it. Tatl flew next to Link as they both watched in awe as the giant Odolwa was simply evaporating out of existence. Eventually, all the remained was the face. It suddenly dropped to the floor with a loud clang of the hardwood and concrete connecting together.

"...Humans are but slaves to the gods, huh..." Link murmured with distaste. He sat there panting, taking a moment to recover from the battle. Tatl rested on Link's shoulder, speechless. Even the moths and bugs seemed to have corroded along with Odolwa. After a moment, Link slowly stood himself up as Tatl got off of him. The mask seemed to be surrounded in a light blue aura. Link reached down to touch the mask...

" _Guh!!_ "

Out of nowhere, Link felt himself flying off of his feet sideways up into the air and slammed his left side into the wall; the wall which was on the _other_ side of the room. He cried out loudly upon impact he had with the wall and then fell the rest of the distance downwards. Thankfully it wasn't that high of a drop. He _did_ land on his feet; but he didn't have the strength remaining to balance himself or to brace himself with the landing, so he simply crumpled to the floor. He lost his grip of his sword and the weapon clattered on the ground as he fell too.  
  
Link panted vigorously from the pain. What hit him...? Odolwa was gone... defeated. He should be safe from anymore pain... Why was he feeling more pain...?

 

_"Hee hee hee~~!"_

 

Link groaned and it wasn't because of the pain he was in. Even in his state of nearing unconsciousness from over exertion, Link was able to put two and two together almost instinctively. He gripped his left side with his right arm and clenched his teeth in effort of pushing himself up with his left arm. The shield on his back felt like a giant weight, but he forced his body at least get his torso up off of the floor. He threw his head up as he saw the recognizable small scarecrow holding Odolwa's remains in his right hand.  
  
Tatl flew towards Link, but didn't say anything as the child was alright -- if only just exhausted and aching all over.... as well as seething with anger _,_ annoyance, frustration... "Grr...! Skull Kid... you... you bastard...!"

Skull Kid just ignored the Hylian down on the ground as he stared at Odolwa's face. He soon let out a chuckle. To Link's surprise, the scarecrow took up the mask and lazily tossed it towards Link's direction. Link rolled to his right out of the way as the once-to-have-been-giant's face clattered and slid on the ground until it bumped against the stone wall. The boy's eyes stared at the mask for a moment before glancing towards Skull Kid in confusion.

"He was an idiot. He was far too weak to even classify himself as a god." Skull Kid chuckled. "He thought I would give him enough power to be on the same level as me? Heehee! That's funny...  
"You did well to at least put him in his place for me. Thanks for that, fool. But even if you manage to free all four of them, all of them together wouldn't be enough to stop me."

Skull Kid's form soon vanished slowly from existence, leaving Link and Tatl to only stare at where he just was in confusion.

"We're not dead?" Tatl asked out loud.

"Combined with his absolute confidence... and his childish ignorance... it looks those together saved us..." Link grumbled. "He thinks he can't lose -- ugh...!"

Link grimaced as he crumpled back down on to the floor holding his side tightly. Skull Kid sure packed a lot of power... In comparison, Bisenette's kick had been child's play... Link embraced the pain, forcing himself to endure it. As he forced his mind to gradually blanket the uncomfortable feeling out, he reached out to touch Odolwa's face with his left hand.  
  
As soon as he made contact with it, there was a bright flash which made him cry out from its intensity. His right arm rose up to cover his eyes from the light. After a few moments, he braved himself to look as he slid his arm slowly away, cracking his eyes open. He felt a breeze and in confusion quickly unwrapped his arm as he looked around him. He was back outside on top of the summit of Woodfall just outside of the temple's entrance.  
  
He felt the humid noon wind brush up against his skin as he slowly struggled to push himself up. Thankfully, his sword was there too and he grabbed it. With a grunt he managed to sheath the weapon in its scabbard on his back.

"H-Hey! Look! The water is..." Tatl called out to get his attention.

Link pushed himself up onto one knee while still gripping his side. He glanced around. The water was no longer purple, it was a lovely, beautiful, clean blue. No longer murky and thick of that poisonous purple like it had been before. Even the air smelled fresh now. It was an absolute transformation to what the area had looked like before. He wish he felt just as new as he sucked in a shaky breath of pain, slowly struggling to stand on his feet.

"...Are you all right?"

"I've been better... Tatl..." He responded with a grimace.

He was trying to hide how hurt he really was. He couldn't hide it from himself though -- that fight had been very close. He had been on the brink of losing. Had it not been for him finding that bomb flower, he was pretty positive he was not going to win. Thankfully, these were injuries that hurt more than they were serious. Bruises and pains healed over time. It was that what worried him though; time was not exactly a luxury he had. If Odolwa was that harsh, how well could he managed three more monsters like that, with less than three days remaining, let alone with any other potential threats. Then there was also the fact that Skull Kid could interrupt him at any time...

A loud sound sprang Link from his grim thoughts, coming above both Tatl and him. The fairy shrieked and Link would have yelped out at the sound but his hands were on his knees as he was panting and sweating, on the verge of near collapse. Even though he was curious as to what made the sound and was alarmed as a result, he didn't even bother to raise his head to look until Tatl soon beckoned him to do so. His eyes widened at a pair of two giant legs that rose up so high into the sky, even the lower clouds blocked the view. Link could only stare astonished, as the mystic giant soon let out another roar; although it wasn't menacing in any way...

"Is that... one of the four... Tael was speaking about...? I can't understand it..." Link muttered in disbelief.

"...It said... thank you..." Tatl answered.

"...You can make out those sounds it's making...? How?"

"I don't really know. I just feel like that's what it's saying... like... I can understand the emotions that are coming from it." Tatl tried to explain.

Link looked up at the giant once again as the pair of legs he could only make out seemed to turn around and slowly began to walk off; it's footfalls loud and booming, shaking the ground slightly with every step until it got further away. Tatl and Link only watched quietly until the figure eventually disappeared beyond their field of vision.

"You think that thing will come help us to stop the moon...?" Link asked. "It's certainly big enough to tower over the clock tower... and if there's four of them in total..."

"I hope so. Or else we're screwed..."

The two were silent for a moment again except for Link's ragged pants. Oh, how he _really_ wanted to go for a rest right about now. But he couldn't... he couldn't afford to sleep. There was less than two and a half days left and he needed to rescue three more guardians. He had to -- no one else had the power to do it.  
  
Forcing himself once again, Link began to take slow steps towards the exit to Woodfall as he still gripped his aching side. Tatl though soon flew in front of him. "You shouldn't be walking as you are. Sit down for a little while first at the very least!"

"I don't have the time to rest... I'll be fine... I'll walk it off." He said stubbornly. He continued on. Each step seemed to be so heavy. He found it hard to keep his balance and from accidentally falling over on either side into the water. However, he managed to keep his balance in check as he eventually made it onto actual soil. After that, Link couldn't handle the strain anymore and completely collapsed forwards into the ground.  
  
Tatl didn't even shriek, or ring or do anything hinting at surprise. Rather, she flew down to the exhausted child who pushed his face from the dirt and looked her as she began scolding him again. "See, I was right! You're too tired to be walking about! Just stay here like a good boy and I'll go get help! Why do you always have to make this so hard on yourself? Geez..."

Tatl soon flew off without even giving Link a chance to give a remark. He simply just let his head fall to the ground. The ground felt more comfortable than any bed he remembered ever sleeping in...  
  
He was about to doze off; he couldn't remember how long he lay there, it seemed like a few seconds, but it felt like a few minutes. He felt himself slowly rolled over onto his back. Then he felt something dribbled into his mouth. It was absolutely bitter, but then someone told him to swallow it off into the distance. Should he? It tasted too bitter to swallow... The distant voice told him again, this time in a more demanding voice. Almost like a child in trouble from his parent, he obeyed, gulping down the liquid.  
  
A few seconds later more of that liquid. That commanding voice told him to swallow again. He did. A few seconds later it was like a sense of reality washed over him. Link's eyes snapped open suddenly aware. He sprung up as if he had awaken from a nightmare. He looked around hastily, he was no longer outside. He was inside, on the bed where he had woken up before when Kotake rescued him from the poison in his body. He heard Tatl's voice to his side. "Yup. Your potions work very well, they do."

 

Link heard Kotake's familiar voice let out amused huffs. Link was in a bit of a stupor. His head kind of spun but not in a painful kind of way. He felt... dazed, as if he had woken up but was groggy from lack of sleep. Kotake, Koume and Tatl were in the room with him. Link blinked his eyes slowly, then bluntly asked " ...What happened to me?"

"You don't remember? You completely passed out right after exiting the temple. I had to get these two to carry you back here so we could give you the medicine to wake you up again. You've only been out for a little while. Half an hour, I think."

"Has it really been half an hour? I still feel kind of groggy, but I feel like I had at least a half decent sleep that's been longer than that."

"That's the effect of the medicine. It won't last long." Kotake answered him. "It's like drinking lots of coffee. You feel the high of being energetic but shortly after, the crash will come and unless you get sleep before hand, you'll most likely pass out again. Your body is still in need of some actual real rest. However, I know with your current situation, that will be a hard thing to do... Tatl has filled us in about it all. I do not envy the responsibility you have put on yourself." 

"Then... what can I do...? Is there possibly a quick way for me to get some rest?" Link asked her. She gave an annoyed glare in response though as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Are you an idiot? There's no way to rest but to rest!"

"Sister, please calm down." Koume attempted. She did slightly, after muttering "Hmph...! Ignorant children these days..."

Kotake turned around and stepped out of the room for a moment, returning moments later holding a coffee mug, with white steam coming out from it, as well as a clear bottle full of red liquid; the medicine she had just given Link more than likely judging from the last time. She stepped up to the child and held it out for him to take. "Use this sparingly. It's medicine; it will be less potent if you drink it all too quickly." She warned. "Also, remember that medicine is not a miracle worker like magic is. It won't heal serious wounds you take. It only gives you proper nutrients to give you body a boost and helps clear abnormal sickness.

Link took the bottle from her, securing it to his belt at his side as he gave his sincerest thanks. She was not done lecturing him though. "You _must_ get to sleep some time around tomorrow morning. Whether you take the medicine to keep yourself awake or not. If you neglect not to... you will be killing yourself."

Those words hung heavily in the room for a moment. Link took her words as completely seriously. Kotake continued when the boy remained silent. "You are human. Everything needs sleep and natural rest. You will over work your heart and it will stop functioning. You will die. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yes... I understand... I will do as you say."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Only a few more words had been exchanged before Kotake sent Link and Tatl on their way. Koume volunteered to help them save a bit more time but sending them back to Termina field at the very least, which saved a couple hours of walking and some effort for Link. They set out immediately; as they were walking, Link held up Odolwa's remains probably for the third or fourth time by now, just staring into the mask. He decided to have taken it with him -- just in case.

"Blegh." Tatl sneered. "Why are you staring at that ugly thing? You've been staring at it for several minutes now, and more than once. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I don't know why I'm staring at this still though..." Link answered as he paused for a few seconds. "Maybe there's just something I'm still trying to understand."

"Understand? What, Odolwa's ridiculous line of thinking?"

Link chuckled. "Not exactly. I'm trying to understand his mindset though. Did he truly think he was a god... or did he want to believe he was a god? Did he do those things that he did just because he was worried about appearance? If he was supposed to be a god and if any defiance was shown, if he didn't attest to it, he would lose the Deku's clans fear. Therefore, he would have lost his power over them... right?" Link sighed. "That being said, he was still evil, but... people can change, can't they? Maybe we don't need to fight Skull Kid... If the mask has changed him into something evil... maybe I can help change him back... I can tell the mask is slowly corrupting him to lose more and more of his mind..."

"I'll be honest with you kid, I don't think he would listen to any speech you have to say before he squishes us as flat as a pancake." Tatl stated. "Whatever that mask truly is, he's using Skull Kid as a puppet. Not that the real Skull Kid was a goody-two-shoes mind you."

"You'd be surprised. Sometimes words can be the ultimate offense, or the ultimate defense, Tatl. Sometimes, they could be the ultimate medicine as well. They can turn your greatest enemy into your best friend. And your best friend into your greatest enemy."

Tatl didn't respond to that. Partially because such a thing had apparently happened between the both of them as well it would seem.

"Speaking of which, what happened after I passed out? Is the Deku Princess okay?" Link asked.

"Ah... that. It seems like the monkey came to you after I left you to get Koume. The Deku Princess happened to step out of the temple. When this is all over, she wants you to come back over to the Deku Palace to thank you properly. Of course, the Swamp is all back to normal as well. Not even a trace of poison could be seen in it. It's almost like it never existed."

"Phew, that's good to hear. So what about us then, where should we head to next? I'll be honest, I'm kind of just walking to clock town on impulse..."

"Hm.... how about the mountains up north?" She suggested. "You're like, halfway to clock town by now anyways."

"The mountains? ...Tatl, those are on the other side of Termina. That's going to be quite a trek..."

"Tael said "Swamp, _Mountain_ , Ocean, Canyon", You never know, Skull Kid may have pulled a fast one and there has to be a specific order to it all. Besides, we can stop by Clock Town along the way; part of the journey will be safe, and I think you need a little bit of time to recover. You can at least get us something to eat."

"With what money?" Link asked her, eyes narrowing. "Skull Kid took my rupees too." He didn't even know why. Anything Skull Kid could possibly have wanted, he could easily take with the Mask. Maybe he took them just out of principle.

"Uh... oh yeah... err..." Tatl hummed thoughtfully. "I'll... think of something. You'll be surprised at how much money is laying around in the city, you know!"

"You're going to steal some or something, aren't you?" Link accused with a disapproving frown.

"I don't think the people you're saving from the moon will mind. Geez kid, show a little humility!" Tatl groaned. "Do you want to have a bite to eat or do you plan on drinking that obviously bitter red liquid for your lunch?"

Link flinched. Drinking the medicine as food? That awful bitter taste? And he was hungry... "...Fine...!" He conceded. "But _only_ this once, you hear me?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No. No Deku Princess in a bottle (beside the fact Link didn't have one).
> 
> Unlike the red potions in the game where one gulp of the potion instantly replenishes up to 20 hearts and cure any wounds that Link may have potentially gotten even if it means he was being sliced by swords or giant battle axes as big, or even bigger, than him, I've opted it to be more of an antidote. Which considering the swamp had been poisoned, Kotake had designed specifically to cure said poison to any victims (and considering in the game, being in the water slowly murders your hearts down to zero, you could consider it as an antidote in game too). In this case, she's giving it to him as more of a stimulant than anything else. The tool tip of the red potion DOES say that it recovers your "energy" after all.


	8. Chapter 7: I Promised; And Set it in Stone...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Tatl arrive in the mountains. Unfortunately, it seems this area of Termina is having its own fair share of problems as well... but the mountains themselves are is not the only thing plagued with various problems... one such problem starts to become Link and Tatl's concern as well.

 

 

 

 

 

**_"...I wonder what she was like...?"_ **

**_"...Uh... who, Link?"_ **

**_"...Huh...? Oh! Did I mumble that out loud? I'm sorry, I was just thinking about my mother... actually, my parents, in general..."_ **

**_"You've been doing that a lot, lately, Link... are you all right?"_ **

**_"Yeah, don't worry Zelda. I just can't stop wondering... there can't be too many boys my age that are allowed to wander back and forth between here, Lon Lon Ranch and the Kokiri forest whenever they want to. *chuckle*, If I still had my parents would I have been able to even have the great friends I do now?"_ **

**_"Well... probably not. But who knows? Think about it though; out of all the friends you do have, there may have been other fine friends that you may have missed had you lived a normal life. Friends do come and go; but partings need not last forever."_**  

**_"...Just like Navi..."_ **

**_"Yes, just like Navi..."_ **

 

 

 

 

  
"This... this voice... I can just hear it along the wind... is it an animal....?  
"...No... it's.... crying...?"

"Hey kid, what are you muttering about?! I can't hear you over this damn wind!" Tatl shouted against the wintery winds, her little form flapping against the wind almost uselessly. Thankfully it wasn't snowing at the moment...

"... ...Who's voice... is that...? It sounds like a child's...?" Link continued to mumble to himself, completely disregarding Tatl, albeit unintentionally. Link put his numbing hands up to his also numbing ears, they were both frozen cold from the blizzard the mountain was currently engulfed in. He shivered, but despite his misery he was doing his best not to complain. "...It's no good... I'm just too far away. I'll have to get closer to make it--..."

Link took in an involuntary deep breath as his eyes began to water slightly. He mentally thought _"Uh oh..."_ inside of his head as he inhaled deeper. He struggled to keep his eyes open, as he saw just barely, Tatl flying in front of him. She began shouting at him the moment she arrived.

"HELLOOOOO~~!" The fairy rang loudly. "Is this cold making you deaf or--"

 

_**"** _ _**AH--CHOOO!!"**_

 

The result was Link sneezing which blew Tatl away and right into the snow. Link sniffled as he hugged himself helplessly against the cold as he shivered. He blinked water from his eyes as he looked to where Tatl was blown to. He was amazed when he saw the snow melt into a puddle of half water, half snow, with Tatl emerging from it. She must have been seething mad -- literally.

"Man... _**MAN!!!**_ I HATE THIS!! This TOTALLY sucks!!" She whined out loudly.

"Well at least you don't have any blood that can freeze... _"_ Link muttered as he sniffled his nose. "C-Coming here with just my tunic and shorts was a t-terrible idea..."

"And what does THAT just mean, boy?! Are you accusing me of having a cold heart!?"

"Tatl, please! Keep your voice down!" Link begged, hoping that the ever quick-to-anger fairy would come down some. It had the opposite effect. "No, YOU shut up --" She began, but was cut off from the area around them rumbling a bit.

"...I hope that wasn't what I think it was..." Link whispered, looking around anxiously; but not behind him. Which was a mistake. Without any other warning, He was knocked forwards and his vision went white and icy cold snow was completely all around him. Link struggled against the weight of the snow as he managed to push his head out of it as he gasped for air. He shook his head vigorously to toss the snow off of his head, that was in his hair and off of his green cap.

"Yup... that was totally what I was afraid it would be..." He mumbled with a sigh. Tatl popped herself out of the snow, steaming mad. She let out an abrupt screech and Link winced as he pried his arms out of the snow and covered his ears. After the screeching ended, he slowly worked his way out of the snow and gave Tatl an angry glare.

"Tatl, seriously, the weather and cold is horrible, I know, but the way you're acting is--"

"You idiot! Look behind you!!"

At her call, Link spun himself around and yelped out in absolutely surprise. He tried to step back but his right boot dug into the snow. He flailed his arms as he yelled out before wincing in pain as his right ankle twisted as he fell back and skidded down the pile of snow on his back; his shield acting like a toboggan and sliding him down. The instant he stopped at the bottom, his hands went up and gripping his ankle. Though it hurt, the cold numbed most of it -- for better or for worse.

_"Damn, that hurt...!"_ He thought to himself as he winced. Though it wasn't damaged, thankfully, just a painful little twist. Despite the pain, he slowly stood himself up as he began climbing up the snowbank again to confirm what he had seen. His face grimaced whenever he had to put weight on his ankle. With a pained ankle and hardly being able to feel his fingers at all, it was a difficult climb up the pile of snow. He slowly stood up as he quickly ducked his hands underneath his armpits to shield them from the cold so they could regain some form of feeling back as he shivered like mad. A strong wind nearly blew him off of his feet and he stumbled a bit from it. Still, his suspicions for what he had saw seemed to be correct.  
  
What he was staring at was a giant figure frozen in a block of ice; which inside held the body of a Goron. Link stepped closer as his eyes soon went wide. "D-D...Darunia...?!"

Link hesitated for a moment, as he gazed upon the Goron encased inside of the ice. A long, terrible gash was across his stomach; it must have been the wound that ended him; assuming he died before being frozen solid... or perhaps he died by being frozen alive while dying from the wound. ...Either way there was no saving him one way or another. Link was feeling the emotions of mourning beginning to surface but further more studying of the Goron's features revealed it wasn't actually Darunia. Link felt a wave of relief wash over him; but he felt guilty for it. No matter who's life it was, even if a complete stranger's, it was still indeed a life lost...

"No... this is not Darunia, but he looks so similar... who was this Goron?"

By this point of time, Tatl had managed to fly up and land on Link's head. She was too cold to continue flying.

"I don't want to sound so rude but who _cares?!_ I just want to find a place to warm up before _we_ are the ones who freeze to death! Can we _please_ get going?! We can mourn him later _after_ we're safe from this weather!"

Link felt almost inclined to agree with her since he too was freezing and growing numb. He had to admit there was nothing he could do for the Goron -- especially with how he was right now; barely able to feel his fingers under his armpits still, Link turned around to leave when he heard another voice whisper along the wind...

 

_"So frustrating, goro.... how infuriating, goro..."_  

 

Link spun back around and nearly jumped at the sight he saw. Hovering above the Goron corpse was a levitating figure; looking exactly like the corpse itself, if translucent in his appearance, struggling to appear in the physical realm.

Tatl shrieked loudly; lifting off from Link's head and darted away, shouting 'ghost!' Link turned his head and watched her, before glancing back towards the levitating Goron that was looking at Link.

"You.... you can see me, goro...?" The ghostly apparition of the Goron asked Link.

"Well, I was just surprised at first. But to me you aren't really all that scary, actually! You just look a lot like a friend of mine back in my homeland, so it surprised me."

"My name is Darmani, the blood of proud Goron heroes flows -- ...used to flow through my veins, goro..." The ghost introduced.

"My name is Link! I'm a hero back where I live, too!"

The ghost looked at Link, appraising him carefully. "From one such as you that is so tiny, goro...?" That caused Link to chuckle slightly. "Well... I suppose you _can_ see me after all, goro."

"You're a dead hero, huh...? If you are a ghost, that means you cannot rest after all of the accomplishments you must have done..." Link began, looking away from the ghost to his frozen corpse in the block of ice.

"From the look of your body, it must have been very recent and you must have ended up with failure..."

"Yes... alas, I am now dead..." The deceased hero sighed.

"If you want, you can tell me what happened... I'll listen." Link said. However, strong freezing gust blew that made Link yelp out. He shivered like mad, his teeth chattering as he hugged himself closely.

"...Are you sure, goro...?" Darmani asked the shivering child.

"I-I want to... listen... I'm not moving until I hear your story! I'm a hero too, remember!" Link stuttered with chattering teeth. Darmani's apparition smirked slightly. Whether it be the comical sight of Link refusing to step out of the cold stubbornly, or whether because he was a hero and proud of it, was questionable.

"I believe you would... but I do not wish to torture you like this, goro. For now, please just do a simple favor for me, goro."

"H-Huh...?"

"Please go to the village of my people. There you will be able to warm up a little and learn what makes me unable to rest. But more specifically, the Elder's son is crying for me... Please, if you could, sing him this lullaby for him, goro..."

Darmani began singing a humming melody. Link listened intently on the notes of each hum specifically. Even in the cold, he didn't seem to shiver as his eyes were sharp and he listened. The melody was short and Darmani's humming soon ended. Link soon gave a nod that he understood the melody. He had not really necessarily sung before, but he was good at the Ocarina, so maybe that would be better off for him to use instead.

"When I've done that and warmed up again, then what?" He asked.

Darmani pointed upwards behind Link, and the boy followed the direction of the finger to be aiming at the summit of a short cliff side nearby in the distance.

On top of that mountain, inside a little cove is where my grave rests, goro." The Goron answered.

"...Where your grave rests... but your body is here...? Don't tell me that--..."

Darmani closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly, causing Link's apparent frown to deepen.

"A grave without a body... You are the first one to see my body and find it, goro. Alas, this spot was not where I had met my end but there is no time for specifics now, goro."

"... ... ...Where is it that your people are at, then?" Link asked, grimacing against another cold wind that blew that threatened to knock him off of his feet.

 Darmani pointed again, similar in direction, but not up toward the mountain he pointed at previously, but rather beside it into a valley-like opening. "Simply follow that path and go to your right when the field opens up, it is not very far from here, goro. There you will find the village of Gorons, goro. They may be cold too, but they are good people, they will be sure to make sure you at least warm up a little, goro. Please do not forget the lullaby, that will pay your debt to my people for taking care of you, goro."

"I won't forget. And I will return to listen to your story, I promise." Link answered. He took a step back as he turned around, carefully stepping himself down from the snowbank, parting ways from the restless Goron spirit for now, before this blizzard got any worse than he could handle, stubborn or not.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Are you _s-sure_ this is the right way?" Tatl shivered, huddled up on the inside of Link's tunic, peeking out from the opening against the collar of the shirt.

"There's only two directions to choose from... and he told me to go right..." Link huffed. "I'm not lost..." He sniffled, holding back more shivers and another sneeze that threatened to come out. "Ugh... this cold... my legs are killing me... I can hardly feel them and the blizzard's getting worse. I can hardly see in front of me..."

Link plowed his bare legs forwards; thankfully the snow didn't go past his boots here and the snow was quite powdery, making it easy for him to slog through. The cold however was unbearable otherwise.

"Hey... I think I see it... Yes! I see it!" Tatl shouted.

Renewed with a little bit more strength knowing he was almost there, he quickened his pace as much as he could. He eyed the first building in the village, and frowned when he looked at the door to see it was closed off with a slab of rock. "Well... I figured the doors would be closed but... not like this..." He sighed dejected.

 

_"Oh, you are not a kind we see often, goro."_

 

Link eyes the door suspiciously for a moment, and then looked around. Finally, he glanced up and stepped back a moment. He could barely see the figure through the thick snowflakes and fog that had enveloped the village, but Gorons were hardly inconspicuous, even in a blizzard like this. Like Link, the creature too was shivering.

"I thought everyone would be inside. Why aren't you? You must be freezing." Tatl called out from Link's tunic, peeking out only enough to make herself visible.

"I'd love to be inside right now, but there may be others of my brothers stranded outside still much like how you two are, goro. Someone like you would not be able to open up this door without one of us, goro. I'm surprised you came to visit here at a time like this though, goro."

"Trust me, this was _not_ what I had in mind when I saw snow on the mountain... it wasn't even  _that_ bad until about an hour ago..." Link answered.

Another harsh wind blew. Link gasped out a breath from its intensity as it chilled him down to his bones. He stumbled a bit from how weak the frozen air had made him. He was about to ask to come inside but the Goron beat him to it. "It's not much warmer inside, but at least you will be out of the way of the wind and snow, goro.

Link watched from below as the Goron curled up into a ball and then jumped up into the air, slamming down onto the top of the building's roof. The ground shook a bit from impact. Link watched as the door in front of him slowly slid open as the slab of rock slid upwards.

"That's a pretty neat mechanism..." Tatl admitted as she watched.

"Thank you...!" Link peeped out, quickly rushing inside as he felt another wind brewing. Fearing the consequences of having to endure yet another one if he lingered outside for too long. The door in a second of him entering rumbled and closed shut behind him. Tatl flew out of Link's tunic as the boy shook his form, letting the snow fall off of his head and shoulders onto the floor. The Goron was right. It was still quite cold inside wherever they were. But without the wind and the snow pelting him, he wouldn't freeze to death out here. Compared to how cold he felt now, he reckoned he was technically warming up if anything, if at least marginally. In an attempt to get some feeling into his body again, he blew hot hair on his hands and began to rub them together quickly to get some friction going.

 

_**"WAAAA--AHHHH!!** **"** _

 

"What the _hell?!_ " Tatl yelped out, as Link pressed his hands against his numb ears. Though the sound eventually ended, he kept his hands there to try and warm them up, as they were so cold that it was painful.

"That sounds like the voice I heard earlier..." Link grumbled. "The fact I heard it from the other side of the mountain... that must be the Elder's--" Link began, but he was cut off from yet another loud wail coming from deeper inside that caused him to press his hands to his ears harder. "For the love of Nayru..."

"If you are supposed to give that lullaby to this _brat_ making that racket, hurry it up before I go deaf." Tatl complained.

"I'm too cold to do that now..." Link grumbled. "I can barely curl my fingers to grip the ocarina... and I'm shivering so much and my breath is so shaky... I need to warm up a little or I'm gonna produce sounds from the ocarina worse than this crying."

Link glanced to the side away from Tatl to see a Goron rolling up towards both of them. The Goron slowed himself to a stop and as he uncurled, it could be seen that he too, was shivering. Gorons didn't like the cold one bit. They usually lived in deep underground caves in mountains, volcanoes, or if it was above the surface, it had to be in an area where there was plenty of rocks; for the Goron race feasted on rocks and minerals for their food. The mountains here clearly would have provided plenty of food, but with how the living conditions were now, Link assumed something must have been wrong. No Goron would dare even try to living in such a cold climate; let alone a colony of them. And for them to have built a village here, living conditions had to have been far better at some point, clearly. The creature spoke, voice raised as to not be overpowered by the sobbing of the young elder that was making his distress quite clearly known.

"A visitor, goro? We don't see very much of your kind here, let alone with this freezing cold despite it being spring season, goro..."

"We're sorry for just popping in." Link apologized.

The Goron nodded in acknowledgement. "As if the cold wasn't bad enough, goro. But first Darmani went missing and now the village elder has disappeared too in search of him, goro... His son won't stop crying, goro... He misses them both very much and the cold isn't helping, goro."

"Understandably so... this whole thing must be a lot of stress for... ah.... _ahh..._ " Link suddenly breathed in, eyes closing as he tilted his head and let out a big sneeze. He moaned in annoyance as he sniffled his nose. "Ugh... I must be catching a cold at this point."

"You think? Look what you came dressed in." Tatl scolded. "I mean I know the Gorons don't technically have clothes but their body muscle repels heat a lot better than a humans and even _they_ are shivering."

"Come inside, goro. Humans can't really eat much of our food, but there is one thing you can eat that should help, goro." The Goron said in invitation.

The Goron walked along as a shivering Link followed behind; he struggled to make his legs continue moving; he was near collapse from his body being so weak from the cold. The Goron didn't walk very far as he kind of waddled around while hugging his own body he moved to what was a nearby chair made out of stone that was far much bigger than he was. He almost could have lay himself flat on the seat. It may have not been the most comfortable seat but Link was willing to sit on anything to give his weakened legs the rest they needed.

He managed to move his shivering arms to unfasten his shield and scabbard from behind his back as he set the items next to the chair before seating down on it. He breathed out a shaky sigh. Soon there was a brownish gray cloth in front of his face and Link blinked for a moment before realizing it was a blanket that the Goron was holding out for him, although it was a small one and the cloth probably wasn't used for a blanket, it was better than nothing. Link with shaky hands took it and quickly wrapped it around himself, desperate to seal himself off from the cold as he murmured out a shaky thank you. The Goron seemed to chuckle at Link's response; although it sounded more like a hearty laugh that was toned down. The Goron soon began waddling off again, as Link assumed it was to fetch the food that he mentioned. Even though the Goron mentioned it was something he would be able to eat, he wondered how truly edible it was. After all, Gorons were like half rock, half organic.  
  
Link soon felt a small bit of weight off of his head and he failed to realize Tatl had been seated herself on top of it. By the time he even realized, she zipped herself through the blanket and inside Link's tunic again. The boy made a face, trying to hold laughter in as she felt the fairy settle around his lower diaphragm after a moment. It was a bit awkward but with as cold as she probably was (which she certainly felt), he couldn't blame her. She pressed into him desperately, her little form shivering, but despite her coldness, she spoke up underneath. "We can't stay here very long, you know..."

"I know. And I don't plan to..." Link agreed with a sigh. "But there is no way we can go out there as we are right now. I almost collapsed from just the cold alone... I need something to help keep me going -- even if it has to be Goron food of all things. As soon as I am warm enough to play the Ocarina for that Elder's Son like Darmani asked me to do, then we will go."

"Why are we even doing this again? This has nothing to do with stopping the moon..."

"Darmani asked me to. So I will." Link stated a bit annoyed at her constant rejection of the idea. "I feel like that he may be part of something greater, but even if not for that, there's a reason he cannot rest and I will do everything I can to make sure he can rest in peace... should we not respect the dead?"

"How many times do I have to tell you kid, we do not have _time_ for that! What are you going to do when we run out of time and have to do all of this _again?_ Doing it the first time has proven to be hard enough so far, I don't think I can take the stress of doing all of this again, let alone a second time or maybe even a third time after that and neither could you! The favors you have done would have been absolutely for nothing!"

Link was silent as he thought. _Was_ he doing too many favors and making too many promises that he didn't even know that in the end he would be keeping? All of the promises he has made may not even matter in the end. Would that still be breaking the promise if he failed and had to go back in time again to just start over from scratch? Was he taking a risk in that the Goddess of Time would even _allow_ him to go back in time again?  
  
No, he shouldn't be dwelling on it. He made a promise to himself many times already that he would _not_ allow himself to fail in the first place and he intended to keep that. He would not allow himself to succumb to the difficult task Skull Kid was making him endure. He did not fail Hyrule and he would not fail Termina, either. His thoughts refueled his determination. He fought back the mental stress that the cold was giving him. He couldn't let the weather best of him in the end when he went to go meet Darmani. He was sure that Darmani would be able to lead him to the location of the second giant whom he was sure were the four guardians Tael had mentioned about. It was almost the same as the swamp. A problem was happening here, and he was sure Skull Kid was the one who destroyed that balance. Like Odolwa, the beast that Darmani had set after was most likely the cause for all of this trouble and was more than likely the one who was keeping the guardian sealed that Link need to free... but he had to be cautious as well. One hero had already fallen to the powers of the beast. He did not want to be the second casualty.  
  
Link gripped the blanket around him tighter in anger that was beginning to rush through him. All of the horrible and disgusting things Skull Kid had done, and is still doing... He was trying to make everyone's last few days miserable before inflicting the coup de grace by using the moon to end it all. At that thought, Link's grip on the blanket tightened even more intensely. His anger seemed to warm him with a wave of heat, or perhaps it was the frustration that he felt through all of this; he wish he could just stop this whole debacle immediately.  
  
To calm himself, he took in a deep breath and released it with a heavy sigh. His gaze lifted up slightly as he saw the Goron waddling back to him, holding a bowl made of stone with a metallic spoon inside of it. There was a small amount of steam rising from the bowl. That sight, just in itself made Link's anger vanquish and force a small grin. Even if the food tasted horrible, the heat itself from the food would have made it a delicacy to him right now. The Goron held out the bowl to Link who was brave enough to hold out his arms from the warmth of the blanket to take a hold of the bowl. Link stared at the bowl of liquid which was pretty much a milky gray. He attempted to sniff it, but his nose was plugged due to the cold, so he couldn't get any sense of smell. Maybe it smelled nice but... the coloration was rather... off-putting to say the least. He looked back at the Goron as he began to talk.

"This is our 'Rock-Fisted Potato Stew', goro."

Tatl poked her head out from the tunic, staring at the stew with a bit of bewilderment. "...Doesn't look like any other potato stew I've saw before... aside from potatoes, what else is in it?"

"It's named Rock-Fisted Potato Stew because we take hot water, and mash up potatoes in the stew, and we mash chunks of rocks up into our fists and add it into the stew, goro! **"  
**   
Link tried his best to hold any horrific dismay on his face that there was _rocks_ hidden inside the stew... the Goron sounded so proud of the product that he didn't want to seem rude... "I-Is that so..." Link tried to mutter cheerfully as he flashed a weak smile. _"When I heard edible for humans... I didn't think that would mean they would just grind up the rocks..."_ He thought to himself bitterly.

"It makes the stew tasty while still giving it plenty of minerals from the rocks, goro! Oh, but since a human like yourself can't chew up the rocks, we smash the rocks to be extremely fine, goro. All you have to do is sip the soup and you will become big and strong like us, goro!"

"Somehow, I don't think that's how the process works..." Tatl muttered just barely audible for Link and certainly not audible for the Goron.

Still, holding the bowl, he slowly took it up to his mouth. He figured he may as well just get it over with and gulp it down,with a very small inkling of hope that it wouldn't taste horrible... how much rock could possibly be inside it after all? Link quickly sipped down the stew... He expected the taste to be retching...

And it was.

It wasn't _horrible,_ though. He was able to stomach it. The heat of it along with the fact it was most likely watered down greatly probably helped disguise most of the taste of the rocks. If there was any potatoes in this stew, they either weren't actually there, unrecognizable, or too little of it to actually be tasted as far as he could tell. In mere seconds, the bowl was drained and Link let out a breath. As bad as it tasted, having something hot inside going down his stomach and through his cold body felt very invigorating and refreshing. His body seemed to become more 'active' again and he moved his fingers slowly. They were still quite cold, but he could coil them generically freely and release them when he wished. Though, any appetite he had was gone now and it was not because he was "full" by any stretch of the word. He felt like he needed to cough but he managed to hold it back as he gave his thanks to the Goron, though another loud wailing cry that caused everyone to plug their ears cut Link off.

"Since you helped me, do you mind if I return the favor?" Link asked once the echoes of the cries had died down.

"How so, goro?"

"The one that's crying is the village elder's son, right?"

"Well... yes, goro."

Link soon dug inside of his shirt, avoiding bumping his hand against Tatl, as he carefully slipped out the Ocarina and looked down at it as he rested the instrument near his lap. "Then I think I know what should help him calm down some. Can you lead me to him?"

The Goron seemed to be uncertain for a moment, but eventually spoke up again. **"** He should be just down the hall, goro. Just follow the red carpet, goro."

Link pulled the blanket away from him as he quickly fastened his gear on his back again. Leaving the warmth of the blanket was almost depressing despite how little warmth it did actually provide. Despite the food and blanket he was still quite chilled, but as Tatl said they couldn't linger for very long. The Hylian gave a nod of confirmation and thanks to the Goron before moving down the hallways. The building was actually quite empty; perhaps there were not as many Gorons as Link thought, or they all could still be stranded outside. For their sake, perhaps finding a way to end this blizzard had a time limit not for just the moon, but before anybody stuck outside froze to death...

Link could hear the crying get closer with each step he took. He saw two Gorons standing at the last doorway on each side, holding their ears to block out the obnoxious wailing. One of them spoke to Link spotting him walking closer, giving a grunt over the noise. "Who are you, goro?"

Link either ignored him or pretended not to hear, as he just kept walking until he spotted a tiny Goron seated on a larger chair, crying. The child paused momentarily, although still letting out broken sobs as he spotted Link walking towards him. Asking pretty much the same question the other Goron had asked. "W-Who are you...?"

"Darmani told me to this sing song to you... But I can't sing, so I will play it on my Ocarina instead, okay?"

He didn't wait for a response before he closed his eyes and put the Ocarina up to his lips and began playing a hummable melody of the song Darmani had sung to him. He was struggling to play well at first, for his body was still shivering from the discomfort of the cold. Usually when playing the Ocarina he breathed through his nose, too, but it was plugged up and he had to intake with his mouth instead, stopping only at the appropriate notes that wouldn't make the notes become cut off. Despite the current hardships that made it harder than normal to play, the sound of his notes did not suffer. Link played through the entire song before he slowed to a stop and slowly opened his eyes a crack to take a peek, ready to play another round of the music. He blinked in amazement at what he saw which caused him to pull the Ocarina away from his lips.  
  
The Baby Goron had fallen asleep, curled up into a ball face down and snoring gently.

"Wow...! I figured it was a lullaby of some sort, but I didn't think it would work that fast..." The boy muttered.

"He isn't the only one..." Tatl drawled. Link looked all around him as he noticed that not only the elder's son had fallen asleep, but, in fact, _all_ of the Gorons in the building were asleep. Every one of them were curled up, face down against the floor, snoring loudly.

"Er... oops." Link chuckled nervously. "I guess the song has a bit of magic to it somehow. And playing the Ocarina was a bit louder than singing to him softly..."

"Well, this is fine. It saves us time for having to say goodbye." Tatl remarked.

Link sighed. "Why are you so cynical..."

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
Being exposed back out into the blizzard again was not very good in feeling. The moment Link had stepped back out he almost felt like retreating back inside or just find some sort of coverage... and he did. He felt a little bad but he took the blanket the Goron had lent him and took it permanently as some sort of shield against the winds. It wasn't much and was certainly no coat, but it was better than absolutely nothing. At least it blocked most of the wind and shielded him from the icy pellet-like snowflakes that stung when they had come in contact of his skin.

By now, Link had walked most of the way back retracing his steps from where Darmani had told him to go after his favor had been done. Thankfully, as he came across the large mountain Darmani had told him where on top, his grave lay at rest, the giant wall which was layered with ice and a little bit of snow covered him from the wind, and all that he could feel was a terrible tingle which represented the cold against his skin. On the negative side however, he had to scale this; straight up. It was by no means a giant mountain but considering the conditions it would be no easy task. He tied the blanket into a thick rope like not around his waist and secured it more under his belt. It wouldn't cover him from this climb, and he couldn't afford it from blowing around. But as weak of protection it was against the blizzard, it was still protection that he greatly valued.  
  
Link heaved in a breath before he lifted up one hand to the wall, gripping it, before lifting up a foot, then another hand, then his other foot. He slowly began to scale up the wall. The rock was icy cold to the touch. He gritted his teeth, it was in a way, painful to just grip onto with what little grip he had. But he continued to climb anyways. Tatl immediately flew out from his shirt and stared at him in awe.  
  
"You know what? I really didn't think you was gonna be doing this once you saw how high it was and the fact it's an absolute steep climb, but you are absolutely _nuts!_ "

Link just ignored her and kept on climbing, one step after the other. One at a time. Tatl just continued to stare at awe at a time, seeing the determination on his thing. A chilly wind blew that caused Link to hitch a breath in discomfort. But once it passed, he resumed once again.

" _WHY?_ Why are you doing this? We don't need to do this! You don't need to do this! You have it hard on yourself already!" Tatl demanded.

"Because... the people of Termina are my friends...!" Link finally answered as he shot a look at Tatl. "I don't abandon my friends... for no reason!"

Tatl looked on in shock for a few seconds. "You haven't even been here for a full day yet... How do you consider the people here your friends...?"

"Does it matter how, Tatl? Did you not already see that I am friends with them? Anju before I we had to go back in time took care of me, even though she didn't need to... Kotake saved me from the swamp water--"

"Do you have no idea how much I had to _beg_ her to save you?!" Tatl interrupted him while she let out an annoyed huff. "She was initially going to just leave you to drown! I can see what you mean with Anju but not with that hag!"

"She didn't have to help me, but she still did. And she helped me after I defeated Odolwa too. And only just moments ago, the Gorons helped me too..." Link tried to explain to her, redoubling his efforts as he continued to climb up. "It's but simple courtesy to be kind Tatl. I don't want the kind people of Termina to suffer under Skull Kid's actions when they don't deserve it. I am doing this for no reason other than that. That includes helping your brother... Even Skull Kid -- the real Skull Kid possessed under the mask. He doesn't deserve to become a mindless puppet being manipulated by that mask...  
"I made a promise to save Termina; and I _will_ keep it." He announced in finality. With those words said, it would seem as if they had refueled Link's determination, as he began climbing more vigorously; but not exactly aggressively tackling the obstacle that lay ahead of him. Tatl only floated awestruck at Link's words as the child climbed on ahead without her. "...I don't understand. Am I missing something that he's seeing...?" She muttered to herself, soon floating back up after him.

With the pace Link kept up, he managed to reach his hands over top of the cliff that marked the end slowly, pulling one hand up, and throwing one arm over, as he pulled himself up with an exhausted heave, crawling the rest of his body up and over. He panted while in a cold and freezing sweat. Once again, he was almost in the same position as he was before seeking refuge in the Goron village.  
  
His eyes slowly pulled up from off the ground as he saw the mouth of a large entrance to a cave. Almost immediately, he pulled himself up and dragged his body inside to seek shelter from the wind, unfastening the blanket and swiftly wrapping it around himself, as whatever of the cloth he wasn't clutching flailed madly because of the wind; especially with the much higher altitude. He was greeted by the burning of fire from torches and he heaved a sigh; it was _much_ warmer in Darmani's cave compared to the outside, albeit, obviously still cold. The climb was a tough effort but this alone was almost reward enough.  
  
In the middle of the room was a large gravestone, which Link could only guess was Darmani's tombstone. He stepped closer to it slowly as he examined the text on the stone. It was however in a language he couldn't even decipher, let alone seen before.

 

_"So you did keep your promise, goro."_

 

Tatl shrieked at the sudden voice and darted under Link's shirt through the collar entrance again which was now reinforced by the blanket the boy held around him. Link simply turned around, Tatl poked herself out a little as she huffed annoyed at the floating apparition of the Goron hero. " _Don't do that!!_ You being dead is already creepy enough for me!" She whined.

"Don't mind her... All fairies are afraid of ghosts." Link explained. "It goes against their nature, their natural affinity to life."

Tatl just muttered under her breath in response with words that couldn't be recognizable.

"I am impressed, but not surprised, that you have kept your word to me, goro. As such, you also have done the favor I had asked of you, I am grateful and relieved that the elder's son can at least now rest for a small amount of time, goro."

"When I promise something, I keep my word..." Link stated a bit solemnly, a small moment of silence followed after as he raced thoughts out of his head to pay attention to what was currently at hand. "Tell me... this place is not supposed to be like this, is it...? I almost don't even need to ask for your story, do I? I've already witness what is troubling you. This blizzard is unnatural... As a Goron hero who has died, you can only watch helplessly as the village is slowly but surely covered in snow and ice. At this rate, this place will become a play where no living thing will possibly be able to survive... And... if I were to guess, the one who is behind all of this is the one that left you that big gash on your body that I saw frozen... isn't it?"

Darmani nodded at everything Link had said knowing that he was completely right. The deceased hero slowly lifted a hand to his face and let out a deep sigh, ashamed with himself. "I was fine working my way up to the summit of Snowhead, goro... The one who is casting this blizzard upon my village is none other than the mechanical beast named Goht, goro."

"Goht?"

"I didn't last long, it was an embarrassment, goro... That demon somehow shocked me, paralyzing my body and threw me off the summit of Snowhead, where I received that gash goro. I lay helpless as the wound with the blizzard slowly ended me and than froze me over, where avalanches over the days had moved my body around the area; my body could not be located, goro. The news of my death had spread through the village the blizzard still remained, goro... and as punishment for the goron trying to deceive him, the blizzard has become worse as that demon is trying to punish us Gorons, goro...  
"Alas... I may have died, but I still cannot rest while I watch my home being buried, goro..."

Link clenched his teeth as he listened to Darmani's story, anger welling up inside of him. Just like Odolwa... _" _Goht... He's the one for all of the suffering the Gorons have been put through... he's the one responsible for Darmani's death... he's the one responsible the the elder's son won't even be able to see his role-model ever again... he killed a father-figure to him... just like Ganondorf had done to all of us in the Kokiri Forest...__ _"You shall **not** be forgiven for this, Goht...!_ _I will make sure of it!_ "

_"Hey!_ Forest boy, snap out of it!"

Link blinked himself out of his thoughts, letting his boiling anger reside. "S-Sorry..." He apologized to them both, noticing Darmani gauging him. The fallen Goron had probably seen his reaction.

"I have one last favor to ask of you, goro... You can use magic, right, goro?"

"A fair bit of it, yes..." Link confirmed. "I was giving blessings from the three goddesses I worship back in my homeland. Any magic I can use stems from them."

"Then I ask this of you, goro; please... please bring me back to life with your magic, goro!"

"Wh--?" Link stammered, stepping back at being asked to do quite the impossible. He was at a total loss of what to say; there was no way he could do such a thing. To want to be brought back to life... the only way Link could technically do that would to be going back in time; but even then he couldn't reach that far, he was sure. If he could have, he would have went back already to an earlier date to give himself more time for stopping the moon if he could or preventing everything from happening. The pain and worry Darmani must have felt for his people had to be great and unbearable for him.

"Woah woah woah, guy!" Tatl came in Link's defense. "If the kid was that powerful, he wouldn't be wrapped in a blanket to try and keep himself warm! At least try to be reasonable!"

"If you cannot do that, then I ask of you this instead, goro... Please allow me to rest, goro..."

"...You really wish to rest?" Link asked the Goron for confirmation. Darmani slowly nodded. Link took a few seconds before digging inside of his shirt and pulling out the Ocarina of Time and placing it against his lips. He closed his eyes and then seconds after, began blowing notes into the instrument creating a soft soothing melody. Darmani seemed confused at first, but then almost looked dazed as Link continued to play and the ghost continued to listen; or see into some sort of vision. Darmani's existence was slowly, but surely fading away as Link continued to play. Darmani soon exited out of his trans-like state after several minutes as Link continued to play.

"Such a soothing melody... my sorrows are melting into the song, goro..."  
  
Link continued to play for a handful of seconds more before soon stopping on the last note, he slowly opened his eyes and pulled the Ocarina away from his lips as he watched Darmani's form beginning to disperse away in departure.

"I see everything clearer now, goro... you have shown me something with that melody that I was unable to see before, goro... I have fulfilled my last request to you, I leave myself to you in the faith that you will fulfill your promise to me, goro..."

Link slowly nodded that he understood. Darmani's appearance soon faded away except for the front of his face, which soon fell to the floor with a clatter of contact with stone floor. Link stared at the mask that was of that of a Goron with a neutral yet serious look on his face.

"Leave your people to me. I will protect them...  
"I promise upon your gravestone; Goht will not get away from me for the sinful crimes and suffering he has done against your people... Rest well, Darmani."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the game, Darmani is thrown off the mountains of Snowhead due to the blizzard -- which the wind is apparently caused by a VERY large Goron that happens to be invisible and is there for absolutely NO REASON... in which you have to put him to sleep by playing the Goron Lullaby while in the Goron form.
> 
> Just... no. The Goron was obviously put there so you had to everything else first in order to enter Snowhead in the sake of pacing rather than anything storyline related. It's about as illogical as the Pencil statues in Earthbound/Mother 2. But at least in Earthbound they joked about it even in-game (as was the charm of the series). So for that reason, no, Darmani did not die by being blown off Snowhead into the valley below by a giant invisible Goron that was there for no reason other than to block the player.
> 
> (Also, it will play a part in the next chapter)


	9. Chapter 8: Another Trial; One I Cannot Surrender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link begins his journey towards the summit of Snowhead... But the cold starts becoming a little too much than he is able to handle...

 

 

 

 

 

_**"Link... was there ever a time where you just said to yourself that you will just quit? That you would just give up on anything?"** _  
  
_**"...There were a few times I admit... but all I had to do was think of my friends like you, Saria, and everyone else in the Kokiri Forest, as well as all my other friends I had made across Hyrule to keep me going. Everyone was depending on me. I couldn't just let them down."** _  
  
_**"...You must have felt rather lonely..."** _  
  
_**"No, not really. I couldn't have done it without the hopes and efforts of many other people, Saria. Just because they were not there physically doesn't mean they weren't there with me in the same cause.** _  
_**"...If I didn't have the support of those people, I don't know if I would have been able to just keep enduring it as I did..."** _

 

 

 

 

 

"Why haven't you tried putting on the mask yet?" Tatl asked him, eying the Goron mask that Link had put away carefully.

"Is there any real reason to? I am pretty sure I know what it will do when I put it on... it will transform me into a Goron." He answered her. "I'll use Darmani's power when I need to. I am sure his spirit wants to face that demon again..."

Link was making his way onwards towards Snowhead after climbing back down from Darmani's grave site. Thankfully, the trip down was quicker and easier than it had been going up. His whole body felt frozen before too long though. The blizzard only got worse the closer he got as well as the snow getting deeper and the blanket was doing little to nothing in protecting him anymore. Eventually, Link hid behind a rocky outcrop that shielded them from the wind. He took a few deep breaths as mist escaped his mouth with each exhale; the wind so cold it was winding him and making it hard to breathe when it bit into his exposed skin.

"You may want to hide inside of my clothes at this point. I believe it's only going to get worse from here on out, Tatl."

Tatl didn't need any more urging when Link opened up the top of his cap just enough for her to slip on through. Link took a few moments to try and warm himself up using friction by rubbing his hands against his arms and legs. It felt like it helped preforming the action but when he stopped, the cold seemed to return only a few seconds later and any heat or feeling he had managed to recover felt just vanished. Link sighed in disappointment that there was nothing he could do at all to fight this blizzard other than simply enduring it. He didn't want to admit it, but he was losing. He felt like he was going to collapse due to the harsh conditions in mere moments and was only really holding on only due to sheer willpower. The weakened state his body was in already from being sleep deprived was probably taking its toll too, even with the medicine he had took with him--

_"The medicine...!"_

Link soon rummaged inside his bag pulling out the bottle that contained the red medicine he was given. With numb fingers and shaking hands, he pulled the cork off of the bottle and tilted it towards his lips. He took three gulps before pulling his lips away.

Link didn't feel warmer, but within seconds he felt... stronger, in a way. More energetic? Perhaps refreshed was how he felt...? It was a sensation he couldn't explain although he seemed to understand. It was almost like he had taken a drink of some type of warm liquid, maybe even hot water, to help keep his body warm. But he doubted that was the case and his body temperature was most likely dwindling with each passing second. He wanted to drink more, but he knew he had to use it sparingly and in reality his condition probably wasn't much different. The potion probably gave a probe to his body and blood flow to not decelerate and it might help him fight off the physical and mental fatigue he had been enduring, but not much else.

He fixed the cork back in the bottle and put it back into his bag that was at his waist. He walked off from the face of the cliff, gritting his teeth as he faced the bone-chilling wind. He traveled up the road that lead to the towering mountain known as Snowhead. Link slowly clutched the blanket around him desperately as the temperature seemed to be dropping even more.

It must have been at least half an hour to travel up the trail that forced Link to be knee deep into the snow. He had endured the weather so far, but he felt frozen solid and drinking more of the potion was not helping. By the time he reached the mouth of a cavern entrance at the bottom of the mountain; which Link thanked the Goddesses that he saw... he was practically crawling and shivering with snow beginning to pile up onto him and his blanket that he had been using had managed to slip away from his grip that he guess he couldn't maintain anymore, because he couldn't move his fingers. Desperately on his hands and knees, he crawled himself deeper inside of the cave to run away from the cold in hopes that the cave was just a little bit warmer... and then he just mentally snapped.

" _I-I c-c-can't tak-ke it... I c-can't take it...!_ " He abruptly cried out, almost in a wail. "S-So cold... I can't-t f-f-feel anyth-thing... I... I can't...!" It was just too hard... he needed a rest... a break... anything to make this cold go away from his mind even for a few seconds... some kind of reprieve from it all...!

His breathing was labored as he collapsed against the floor of the cave huddling himself for body heat that wasn't even there. Tatl squeezed herself out from under Link's hat, shivering desperately herself, as the Hylian child shivered on the floor with bits of snow falling off from him that had stuck to his body. His skin was so pale it was like a ghostly white...

"U-Um... you... faced harder than this... haven't you? You said you've done this sort of thing before! You can't stop now! You have to keep going!" She tried to pry him.

"T...Tired..." He only managed to grumble with chattering teeth as he panted, feeling like he wasn't getting enough air.

"NO! You _can't_ fall asleep...!" Tatl warned him, but her wings sank when Link didn't give any response other than him continuing to shiver on his side on the cavern floor. Perhaps he knew he had to keep going, but knowing and physically being able to, were two different things. He needed help... he wasn't going to survive like this.

"U-Um... I'm going to look deeper into the cave for you... maybe there's something that could help! I'll be right back!"

Link barely lifted his head to watch her zip away inside the darkness of the cave; only visible due to her glow, but he looked away concentrating on keeping himself from not succumbing to the deathly cold that had him in a deadly vice-grip. He felt an urge to drink the medicine in hopes that it would still revitalize him, but that wouldn't help. The medicine wouldn't give him any heat unless it was warm itself and when he last tried to take a sip of it, it felt icy. The medicine would only give him energy; and that certainly wasn't his problem now. Surely he would have collapsed earlier outside had he not drank it earlier, but he wondered if his life was actually saved or if he merely prolonged his suffering.

No where did he feel that he should just give up; but he was in a very dangerous situation. If Tatl couldn't find anything that could help him get body heat; or preserve the very small amount he had left; then he  _was_ going to die and this cave would be his final resting place until the moon fell and most likely destroyed everything.

He felt like crying in pity of his own suffering but for some reason for another, he forced himself not to; as if he couldn't show any weakness. He _had_ done this before; he had proved to himself and to others that nothing was impossible. Even alone and stranded like he was, no matter how perilous the situation he was in right now could be, he would prove to his feeling of hopelessness that he could pull it off. He prayed in his mind to Farore or Din that there would be some small scraps of wood or something similar inside the cave that he could make some type of fire with.

Blinking slowly, he groaned weakly when he felt some kind of stinging sensation on his face and noticed Tatl was pinching desperately at his face to wake him up. He had nearly fallen asleep...

"I said get up!" Tatl desperately shrieked.

He grunted weakly, rolling himself off of his side and slowly began to push himself up with his arms. It didn't even feel like he had any arms to use. With little strength he could muster in them to push himself up, they were shaking so badly he was nearly losing his balance before he even got up onto his knees.

"There are some withered Deku Baba's inside of the cave; they most likely withered due to the cold! You can use their stems to make a fire! Just get up!"

"D-Deku... baba's-s...?" He let out in a questioning tone. It took his brain a few seconds before he felt a wave of realization wash over him, which jerked his body slightly awake from its groggy and near unconscious state. "Of course...!"

How could he have forgotten...?! Deku Babas almost _always_ lived inside caves and underground. They populated like mad inside caves. Babas that grew in areas like these were generally brittle and withered, meaning that, aside from the head; their stem was more or less a stick which most people called a Deku Stick. If he could get two sticks and some dry leaves from them or get a third stick and peel it into small strips with his sword, he could very much start a fire by rubbing the two sticks together. Deku sticks burned exceptionally well and were very easily flammable, even if they were rather cold, it did not take very much friction. He just hoped he would be able to rub them together well enough to start said fire.

He whispered a quiet 'thank you' to Farore as he felt the motivation to slowly push himself up off of the floor completely. His movement were incredibly sluggish. He felt like collapsing on the floor and just sleeping... and he knew that was a terrible sign if the cold was making him sleepy. If he fell unconscious he would not wake up again.

Forcing himself to stand on his feet, he took slow, shaky and heavy steps into the cave. The bigger question in his mind was how was he going to battle these Babas? Withered Babas weren't necessarily dangerous; they could hardly move, but they can still move enough to knock you off of your feet if you were not careful. And if that happened, he knew there was little hope of him being able to stand back up. He could possibly be knocked out from one blow, even.

As the Babas Tatl spotted were against the wall opposite of the one he was against and using for support, he leaned against it for a little bit as he held his hands in front of him, attempting to move his fingers. Worry grew in the pit of his stomach as his fingers only twitched and failed to completely respond to the movement he was trying to command on them.

"...I can't curl my fingers..." Link winced as he tried his hardest to curl his left hand. "I can't... I can't grip my weapons like this..." 

He did the only thing he could do, which was take as deep breaths as he could muster to exhale on his fingers as he desperately tried to warm them up. With how cold he was, it really wasn't much. He managed to get them to twitch a little into a loose curl after a lot of effort. He unsheathed his sword, gripping it as tight as he could with two hands. He hoped he had enough strength for a swing and not topple over afterwards. The Baba's had been still the entire time, sticking straight up into the air with their heads silent. Link knew as he tiptoed closer they would probably animate. 

Thankfully for him though, as he slashed the first Baba from the root, the other one didn't even react. The Baba he slashed collapsed onto the ground without any fuss... Link looked carefully as he looked at the other Baba near him... "What? They are already dead...?"

"Must have been too cold for them... Goht's blizzard is unnatural. If Gorons can't survive against this cold, then surely no plants could. The water underneath the soil is probably frozen over." Tatl surmised. 

Throwing his sword back, Link grunted as he sent out a second slash to the second Baba and sliced it with no problems. He let out a sigh; he was glad he wouldn't have to fight even if Babas were pretty harmless when withered. He just wasn't up to it right now when he could hardly move. It took every inkling of strength inside of him to even swing his sword.

Chopping off the heads of the Babas to only leave their stems, Link soon sheathed his weapon and picked up the stiff stems with his hands as he plucked some dry giant leaves from the base of where the Baba's had been growing. After, carrying both stems and leaves, he walked back as deeper into the cave as he could go before he reached a dead end only a couple moments later. Link sat down with a sigh as he laid the leaves out in front of him. Link snapped both stems into four separated pieces each. Laying six of them across with each other and holding the last two in his hands. He used his sword to drill a hole into one of the sticks and then he stuck the second stick inside the hole and began to rapidly rub it back and forth in the palms of his hand in a circle against the indented hole he made into the first stick. It took a little while and he was beginning to get frustrated because heat was within his grasp, but soon a spark ignited and he laughed out loud weakly when it landed on one of the leaves. One small flame spread and almost instantly ignited the leaves into a very small flame. Link put the other two sticks down he used to ignite the fire into it and quickly it grew.

Link was elated; he never knew he would be so happy to feel basic warmth again. He hovered his hands closed to the fire that by now had grown into a moderate size; at least for him being the small child he was. Link soon unfastened his sword and shield and put them against the wall and lay down on the ground almost in a collapsing fashion.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Tatl shrieked. He had just made the fire, how could he possibly collapse now...?!

"Yeah... I'm all right..." Link barely mumbled audibly as he curled up on himself close to the fire. "I'm just going to rest for a bit... maybe I should get a couple hours of sleep... It's still the afternoon right...? Maybe I'll sleep until evening... I may as well sleep while I wait to warm up... right?"

"Maybe, but I'm not going to be able to keep the fire alive if it begins to go out. Deku sticks may burn very well but not for very long..." Tatl tried to reason with him -- which was unfortunately because he _did_ need sleep... Heck, even she wouldn't have minded a nap right now...

"It'll last..." He sighed. "Living in the Kokiri forest for most of my life I..." He began, before his voice slurred into a unintelligible mumble. All Tatl could make it was a couple words. 'Hours' and 'wake me when'... which she assumed was evening that he wanted her to wake him.

And to Link, it only felt like a couple of seconds, when he felt some stinging on his cheek. Instinctively he raised his hand up and slapped his hand against his cheek to kill the mosquito that was quite obviously trying to suck out his blood. He was laying on his back by now and he felt worse for the wear still. He groaned, trying to remember where he was... what he had been doing only a moment ago. His mind was a painful blur and he felt cold everywhere...

" _Mmf.... ffff...LET GOOOO...!_ "

"Huh...?"

Slowly releasing his hand from his cheek, Tatl suddenly popped out gasping for breath on Link's upper chest. The boy suddenly sat up and Tatl let out a squeak as she rolled off of Link onto the cavern floor in between his legs.

The first thing Link did was glance at the fire; it was dying but was still there, but only in the presence of a couple of embers. Instinctively he poked it a little bit, giving the fire more oxygen and it in turn began sparking to life slightly again. However, most of the wood and leaves had now been turned into ash. There wasn't much more Link could do to revive the fire without getting more for it to feed on, but the fact that the fire was producing heat sufficed his needs as he instinctively kept his hands as closer to the embers without actually touching them. It still radiated a rather small aura of heat  for his hands.

It was then he realized he was cold; but he could feel everything in his body again. That and the fact the flame was igniting a little bit yet again he felt -- compared to before and still feeling absolutely tired, he felt quite a lot better. He wished he could get more sleep though. Perhaps sleeping around half the day in a much warmer environment, he wanted to feel like his normal energetic-self again... but there was no way he was going to get that much even if he decided to just take the entire day off. He'd freeze to death here if he rested too long. There was little resting he could do in this cave before it would become more harmful to him than good. Thankfully due to the fire, the cave itself had warmed up a little. Enough that he had been able to sleep in it without freezing in his sleep.  
  
Link slowly rubbed his cheek where it felt sore as he soon glanced at Tatl who had rolled off onto his lap, looking a bit miffed under her bright glowing light that surrounded her.

"Why were you biting my cheek?"

"To wake you up... you ass!" She cried angrily as she gasped. " _Sheesh!_ I thought I was going to die... again!"

Link mouthed a sincere apology to "her as he resumed working on restoring his hands to a reasonable temperature whilst shaking his head slowly to try and whisk any drowsiness out of him. It proved to only be futile. If anything, it made him feel like it his head was compressing from the inside-out, so he stopped. It was a daunting task to him to be climbing the mountain with such terrifying weather; let alone with the exhausted, half frozen, and half-asleep condition he was in now. And it was probably going to be nightfall soon if it wasn't already...

"How long have I been out...?"

"I don't know exactly. I can't see the sun at all outside. There's too much snow and it's just all cloudy anyways." Tatl explained as she picked herself up from the floor and fluttered back next to the small fire. Forest fairy she may be, she was too cold still to not welcome the fire. "It feels like it's been a couple of hours though and it's getting darker outside so I'm assuming it's starting to become night. We should hurry up before you can't see where you are going. The last thing we need is to be stranded in this cave all night...!"

Link grunted in acknowledgement as he pushed himself up off the ground. He took a moment to get his balance before he looked around, seeing his arsenal of both sword and shield against the cavern wall where he had left them, the Hylian walked over and fastened them once again on his back where they belonged. Link closed his eyes and reopened them a couple of times -- he didn't like that his eyes were taking a short time to refocus when he opened them. He wasn't as cold now; but he was still too exhausted to even attempt this climb. Yet, he had no choice. He certainly couldn't make it back in this condition. He could only defeat Goht to end the blizzard. Hopefully that would return the place to how it was like before and end this reincarnation of hell frozen over.

Link could only think of one thing to solve this fatigue and that was again him reaching once more for Kotake's tonic. He popped open the cork and took a few gulps of it. He was thankful she had given him the potion; that and the bottle contained quite a fair amount of the medicine. It was saving him already. After taking a few gulps, he fixed the cork back on the bottle before fastening it again. He waited a few seconds before he tried closing and opening his eyes again. There was an immediate difference in the fact that his eyes focused immediately now when he reopened them. Again too, he was feeling the adrenaline effect the potion had on him before. His entire body felt more focused; but Kotake's words still rang in the back of his mind. This wasn't his body being better -- it was just him _feeling_ better. However, with his mind feeling a bit clear and him being able to concentrate easier, it would allow him to preform better.

"I'm really in debt to Kotake for this medicine..." Link sighed as he gave one last look at the bottle.

"As you probably should be. But you can't take too much of it. You still may need it much later." Tatl reminded him.

"I can't imagine many more situations much worse than the one we are in now. Stranded on top of a mountain in a blizzard and having to climb up it, defeat a monster then having to come back down all in one go."

"If you defeat the monster though, the blizzard may stop. It should be much easier to come back down the mountain again. Who knows, you may be able to get an actual proper rest. If you defeat Goht, then we will be half way done and still two days to go!" She quipped in bright encouragement. "You showed me against Odolwa that you _can_ do this."

He smiled faintly at her, a small reassuring smile. She wasn't able to do much, he knew that, but at least she was trying to do everything that she _could_ do. Of course, there was still the problem that even if he managed to rescue all four, they still had to figure out a way to deal with Skull Kid himself... but he should focus his energy on the problem at hand. He indeed was feeling much better compared to how he was before but still not entirely confident about the condition of his current health. Link knew he had his work cut ahead of him for climbing the summit of Snowhead; let alone everything else that would lay ahead after this.  
  
Stepping back towards the entrance of the cave, Link let out a sigh of relief when he looked outside. To his pleasure, the blizzard had actually stopped... _"...Wait what...?"_ He thought to himself in bewilderment. "The blizzard is gone...? Why would Goht stop the blizzard if he was the one manipulating it? This... doesn't make any sense..."

"I don't know but I don't really care. Now is our chance!" Tatl prodded, bobbing up and down excitedly. "Compared to before, climbing the mountain with almost no wind and snow blowing into our faces should seem easy!"

While Link knew that was very much true; he couldn't shake the thought that in the back of his head; he would maybe want to prefer the blizzard -- the change in behavior wasn't right to him. He didn't like the fact he didn't know why Goht would stop the blizzard; or even think up a logical explanation as to why he would stop it. Unless... did something maybe happen to Goht? That would make sense but he couldn't see how that would be possible. The only explanation could be maybe Skull Kid but even if that was the case, the question still remained as to _'why_ '.  
  
Of course, even without the blizzard, as Link stepped outside into the open, it was still extraordinarily chilly. However, due to there being little to no wind now, nor several flakes of snow stabbing at him with their frigid touch, it felt somewhat manageable in an odd way. Link raced his way through thick snow which the progress itself was somewhat sluggish and taxing on his endurance. He made his way to a ramp that was located around the spiral of a mountain. As he looked up, he could see that like the mountain, it too spiraled up, in an unnatural way. Indeed, this place wasn't naturally formed, but someone, perhaps long ago, built this place.  
  
Link was relieved that the snow on the ramp was quite minimal, where he was only walking through snow up to his boots rather than snow that was at some points, up to his knees and quite often the snow would fall into his boots otherwise. Still, it was quite the uphill battle and the ramp seemed to spiral up and around and around for what felt like several thousand feet. It took Link a long time and it only kept getting darker with each passing minute. By the time Link finally reached the end of the ramp which lead to an open mouth like-cave inside of the mountain, where he was still far from the top of it, the sun had already set and it was simply dark and bitter cold. Even up here, with the blizzard ended, or so it seemed anyways, the wind still liked to gust around which made Link at times seize up and be unable to breathe because it chilled him so to the bone. Despite apprehension of going inside the mountain, he did so without hesitation simply to get out of the wind.  
  
There was no wind inside the mountain but the temperature seemed to drop even more. Link couldn't really tell because he was becoming very numb and was losing feeling in his body once again. He took the time to begin to rub together his body with his hands, trying to warm himself up with friction.  
  
Exhaling finally on his hands for what must have been the tenth time, Link flexed the fingers on his hands as he soon stepped deeper into Snowhead mountain. His face soon became a dull look as he frantically looked around ahead of him, then left, and then right...

"For the love of Nayru... who the hell built this place?! There's nothing in here!"

It was just a small boxed in room with just two pillars supporting it. No defining features about it other than the room itself was cold. Tatl poked herself out from under Link's hat for a moment, before soon leaving its mildly warmer protection as she examined around the room a little. She soon flew to the end away from the entrance.

"...Hmm... I think I can feel air seeping out from here... I think you might be able to push the wall here." She said thoughtfully. "I can feel a little bit of air coming from here. It looks like it's a block fitted to look like the rest of the room."

Link walked over to where Tatl was, examining the wall up close. He traced his finger along the wall. He could feel a slight opening along the wall in a square formation. In other words, there was a block that was decorated the same texture as the wall fitted right in as Tatl had said. He tried peeking through it, but it was too narrow or dark to see through it well.

"Mmm... It's a block..." Link repeated again thoughtfully.

Tatl slowly turned at Link. "Uh... **Yeah.** " She said in a drawl, her tone betraying her annoyance. "That is _exactly_ what I said. So _push it._ "

"...It's a _big_ and _heavy_ block, Tatl..." Link countered back in the same tone she had expressed with it.

" _So? Push it!_ It's obviously a test of strength!" She remarked in a louder voice as her form bobbed up and down quickly.

Link sighed. Arguing with her wasn't going to help him move the obstacle that was in front of him at all. "That mountain wasn't enough with the blizzard? ... _*sigh*_... Whatever..."  
  
Pressing his body against the block, Link gave a hard grunt as he heaved with all his strength against it. His face tensed with effort and broke into a cold sweat as he pushed as hard as he could. The block began nudging a little bit and then afterwards, Link was able to, in painful slow effort, slide the block inwards. His muscles were long cramped before he had even gotten the block several inches, however he didn't stop for fear he may lose the leverage he had already. He couldn't tell how large of a distance he had to push it, but feeling its weight, he knew it couldn't be too far.  
  
When he thought he couldn't handle it anymore, he finally saw an opening and forced himself to push that final last bit more, grunting loudly in effort; which when he finally made the distance he gasped and slid his back against the block, panting hard as his body was covered in freezing sweat.

"By... By Farore's grace... I hope I never have to put that much effort into something... like that again..." He gulped.

Then all of a sudden, Link felt some sort of trembling. The trembling itself did not take long to grow stronger. Link pressed his weight against the block he had just pushed for balance as the entire mountain seemed to be shaking violently.  
  
" _Ahhh!!"_ Tatl screamed. "What's happening!? Is it an earthquake!?"

Link spun his head around as he heard the rumbling moved towards the entrance that they had come through. His eyes widened as he saw the entrance soon begin to become covered with snow. Before long, the entire entrance was completely covered, the trembling ceasing after a moment later.

"That was no earthquake... it was an avalanche! And it was probably done by Goht...!" Link uttered through clenched teeth. "He must have had been expecting us somehow... and now we are trapped in here!"

 

_**"Passed my test again... You have come once more...?  
Come... we have unfinished business to take care of... Darmani."** _

 

Link looked around the room, trying to pinpoint exactly where the voice had come from. It didn't necessarily come from inside his head, yet seemed to have come almost from all around, somehow...

"Do you think that voice was...?" Tatl began, her voice a bit fearful.

"Goht..." Link answered through clenched teeth.

 

_**"Why do you dawdle, hero Darmani? Hurry up, let us finish this little charade..."** _

 

"I guess he doesn't know who actually came to visit him..." Tatl hummed thoughtfully.

Link nodded as he then quickly looked around the room past the block he pushed, walking forwards. He spotted some stairs that lead upwards. He moved his form, taking the stairs up that spiraled around as Tatl chased after him from behind. The stairs seem to go up forever, although the circular motion of the spiraling squeezed together tighter an tighter the higher up he seemed to climb until soon he found an opening. To Link's dismay, there blizzard seemed to have picked up again, although it didn't seem to be a furious as it had been before...

"Tatl, go inside my hat. It'll most likely--"

"No, we'll go out together."

Link looked at Tatl with an expression of surprise before he just nodded. Stepping forwards out into the blizzard, he gasped as the uncomfortable chilling wind seemed to have went through his flesh and stabbed knives into his bones. At the very least, the snow was not very deep. Link looked up into the sky that was however dark, now nearly completely night. Through the darkness and the blizzard, he couldn't mistake however a large black four-legged beast that stood in his view, it's body completely contrasted against the snow which made it so visible, even during such a dark night as this.

 

_**"...What is this? A mere boy? I knew I sensed something slightly different, but you are not Darmani..."** _

 

"I am taking Darmani's place. I did however bring his spirit with me..." Link answered through clenched teeth.

 

_**"...You? A mere boy? Taking the place of a so-called Goron hero!? Haha..! What an insult!"** _

 

Link stared up at the large beast, realizing that Goht was quite literally, a large, mechanical-like goat. The monster's head reared back as it laughed at him, but the Hylian, even in the deadly frost stood his ground, but his breath was just short of panting as it took every bit of mental power to just endure the cold with composure.

 

_**"Why... he must be rather desperate to have to lay his hopes in but a mere small child. Darmani, you dare insult me by challenging me again like this!?"** _

 

"... ... ..."

 

_**"Hahaha... look at yourself boy. You are only able to stand before me because I've restrained my blizzard for our meeting. If I release my grip on it, your pathetic body will most likely be frozen solid within a matter of a few minutes!  
"However... if you give up Darmani's spirit to me, I will let you walk away from this place, alive and free of the pain of the blizzard...** _

 

Link instantly drew his sword and swung it to point the tip directly at Goht's head with a determined look stained on to his face.

"Bastard... That _isn't_ going to happen!  
"I made a promise to Darmani that I will defeat you and that I will cease this pointless blizzard you rain down onto those innocent Gorons below. What condemns you to eliminate all life from Snowhead? Just because you think you can!?"

 

**_"Hahahaha!! 'Because I think I can'? You are a funny child... I am the master of Snowhead... a god! I can do whatever I want! Just because I slept dormant for many years does not change that fact of what I am. It is not my fault the foolish Goron race has populated themselves on my domain while I slept. You mortals are no different. If an ant colony takes shelter in your backyard, do you not destroy the ants' homes and exterminate the pests!?"_ **

 

"Wh-What...? That's... completely different...!"

 

**_"Tell me then boy, how it is... different."_ **

 

****"For starters, the Gorons are inhabiting far from this mountain! Destroying an ant colony to try and force them to move when they are on your property is one thing, but destroying an ant colony when they are not in your way, just for the spite of it because you know they are there is different! And it's not just the Gorons! You are killing every single creature with your blizzard! It will become a spot where no single thing could possibly hope to survive! Destroying the habitat and outright _murdering_ them is completely different!"

 

**_"Are you an idiot? That is the exact point of this blizzard. To eliminate all the pests that have tried to overthrow my home."_ **

 

****" _What!? **Overthrow!?** _ They all just want to live their lives in peace! How is _that_ possibly trying to overthrow you?!?"

 

**_"SILENCE. I've wasted enough of my time trying to reason with but a mere plebeian child! You will soon learn the true pain of defying me! A GOD!!"_ **

 

****Goht snorted loudly, thrashing his right foreleg into the snow, kicking up mounts of it behind him as he lowered his head, as if getting ready to charge.

"Link! Now may be a good time to try and wear the mask!!" Tatl shouted in a quavering voice. Heeding Tatl's words, Link reached quickly into his bag and pulled out the Goron's mask. Quickly, he began fitting it onto his face...

And then he cried out when a white-blue bolt of lightning shot from one of Goht's horns into his hand and striking the mask. Link looked as he saw the Goron's mask fly out of his hands some distance into the snow near the edge of the mountain he was on. He began moving his way towards the mask to retrieve it, until Goht soon charged up and skidded to a stop right in front of it, forcing the Hylian child to take a few steps back in retreat, or risk being run over.

 

**_"Poor child... Only a fool relies on one tool and the power of someone else to help them succeed. Darmani's soul is mine now... And for you insulting me and wasting my time, I will grant you the gift of feeling the icy grip of death creep all around you as I bury you here at the foot of my mountain... forever!"_ **

 

****_"Urggh... Shit...! Damn him!!"_ Link cursed in his mind. With no other choice, Link reached behind his back and grabbed his shield with his right hand, before he spread his legs out in a battle stance, his feet leaving marks in the snow as he pressed his weight down, ready to move his body in any direction needed whenever any of Goht's movements suggest he should.

"Fine Goht, if that's your wish, then let us dance to see who will become ruler of Snowhead... I will not allow you to continue killing any more innocent lives! I will make you _pay_ for what you've done!!"

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering after playing the game several times, I still somehow manage to get lost in Snowhead's temple.
> 
> Snowhead is way, way wayyyy bigger than it should be on the inside. Places is freaking massive and huge. So I've opted for a more simple test of strength -- which is fitting for a "god" that is shaped like a goat/bull.
> 
> When the player reaches the boss room in Majora's Mask, you have to... for some reason, unfreeze Goht who is frozen solid. This is where my idea of him "sleeping" comes from. But how a monster who was frozen in the first place able to wreak havoc with such a powerful blizzard is beyond me, so I've had him obviously not be like that for the story.


	10. Chapter 9: Goht; The Mechanical Monster of Snowhead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Goht engage in battle... but with Link already in such a perilous condition, perhaps he is taking on more than he can handle.

 

 

 

Goht snorted in distaste before he began charging towards the Hylian boy. Link bent his legs before diving himself to his left side as far as he could. It was difficult to get full distance with his jump due to the snow. For the same reason, it was hard to land. He managed to dodge Goht's charge, but ended up tumbling around in the snow, which it alone dug into him with its frigid touch.

Link quickly pushed himself up before looking behind him just in time to see Goht already charging back towards him. With a small yelp, he dodged again, this time going right between Goht's legs. The mechanical beast skidded against the snow to slow down. Link hoped he would have slid in the snow longer but he stopped quicker than he had expected. He ran out from under Gohts legs to get some distance, but before he could get clear he saw just from the corner of his eyes Goht's tail whipping up, before slapping him hard into the side. He let out a loud screamin absolute pain as the contact with the tail also induced a painful electric shock that soon coursed throughout his whole body. Along with the force of it alone sending him off of his feet to go tumbling into the snow again several feet from where he had once stood. Link felt his body seize and buck as he the electricity coursed through him but quickly died down. Cold numbing his feeling or not, that was incredibly painful...Tatl quickly flew down towards him as he grunted as he pushed himself up against the snow slowly, his body shaking through the pain. He barely managed to get himself up as one eye was squeezed shut with his teeth gritted together in effort.

"Come on! You have to think of something to do against that thing! If you don't, you're going to be crushed!"

"Unghh... b-but what _can_ I do...? I need that mask... but I don't have enough time to... get it!"

Link clenched his teeth tighter when he heard Goht roar. He pushed himself once again to his feet -- and then was nearly being knocked off of them again when he felt the wind pick up and the snow that was flying through the air blew into his face as if it was stabbing into him. Link had no choice but to crouch down and hide behind his shield as best as he could to protect himself against the harsh wind that was blowing in his direction.

 

**_"What's the matter, boy!?"_ **

 

 _"_ Nghh...!" Link grunted out. The shield was helping but the wind was stabbing into his skin like a thousand of little daggers. He heard Goht's footfalls a moment later and he peeked a look from behind his shield. The monster was charging towards him once again. He stood up slightly, bending his legs, diving out of the way just in time before Goht came back upon him. While in the air, he twist his body around and grunted out as he sent a swing of his sword towards one of Goht's legs.

He felt the sword make contact, but instead of sinking in like he was used to, instead all the sword did was make a _'clink!'_ and was deflected. Link cried out before long as he was thrown off to the side and sent tumbling yet once again in the snow. He propped himself on his elbows as he stared at Goht somewhat to his right side, a expression of disbelief and frustration on his face.

" _What...?!_ No... No way! Even the Kokiri sword can't scratch him!?"

 

**_"Hahahaha! You really ARE an idiot! Did you really think that toy knife you hold can damage ME? I am made out of metal, boy. You can't hope to defeat me if that is all you have to try and damage me with!"_ **

 

"Damn you...! I'm not going to lose! _I am not going to lose!!_ Everything has a weakness and I will find yours...!"

Link pushed himself up once again as Goht chuckled to himself. The child was already staggering, panting for breath, which each exhale he did, a cloud of white mist would come out of his mouth.

 

**_"Poor plebeian child. You don't even realize I am only just toying with you... I had to find some way to amuse me through this giant waste of my time..."_ **

 

"I'm not a plebeian...!"

Right after Link said that, lightning sparked up Goht's horns, before suddenly firing outwards towards Link. He didn't have enough time to react to dodge or even block it and cried out, twitching as the voltage surged through his body. Goht fired more bolts of electricity, only making him scream out louder in pain that echoed off the summit. To finish it off Goht began running towards Link who could only twitch with the electricity coursing through him and it was all it took for him to consciously stand upright. Goht lowered his head and rushed it right into Link, hitting the child between both of his horns, which didn't impale him, but the force did cause him to grunt between his wails of anguish, and go flying into a rocky wall behind him which he then bounced off of. When he did, Goht was already there with his back turned and soon smacked Link with the electric tail of his once he came off the wall right into the snow slightly to the side, which he collided into on his back.

After all that, Link could only grit his teeth in pain and lay there. Despite how numb his body felt from the cold, it wasn't enough for him to not feel the pain he felt everywhere. He managed to just open his eyes weakly a crack in time seeing Goht throwing down one of his front legs to crush him. Link managed just in time to pull his shield in front of his body, before it slammed into him. He grunted and cried out when Goht's leg slammed into his shield -- the only thing in the way from being crushed to death by the monster that towered over him.

 

**_"Well boy... it would seem that just wishing to win is not enough to actually do it, now is it? Indeed, the battle between Darmani and I demanded a conclusion... but Darmani had so little respect for it, that he sent a child in such an incomplete state willingly to his death? If that is so, then I will grant him willingly his last final request!"_ **

 

Link could only grunt out in pain and effort by pushing against Goht as best as he could. The monster didn't even budge.

 

**_"I think it's time to teach you a lesson that you will have all of eternity to think about..."_ **

 

Goht released Link, only to turn around and use one of his hind legs to kick Link hard into the side. He let out a weak _'oof!'_ at the contact and was sent sliding and rolling towards the edge of the cliff. Link managed to compose himself just in time as he felt his bottom half and nearly his upper half slip off the edge, by digging both of his hands while still holding onto his sword and shield with each hand into the snow, where managed just in time with both hands to find some sharp rock under the snow to grip onto. He clenched his teeth with his eyes squeezed shut in effort to hang on as well as feeling the icy rocky chunks dig into his skin, as he dangled over the side of the mountain.

 

The sight alone made Tatl shriek out loud. "Hurry! Pull yourself up! He's coming!!"

 

Despite how hard he tried to pull himself up, his body was too worn and damaged to do so. It took every ounce of strength he had just to keep hanging on with what little grip he had, let alone push himself up. He opened his eyes just barely, as he soon saw the Goron mask to his left side near him. If he could just reached it... but it was just a little too far away and if he tried to, he feared he'd slip and fall.

And then Goht who towered in front of him slammed his leg down on top of his left hand. Link clenched his teeth, biting his tongue to silence himself, but was only successful for a second as he cried out loud in pain as his hand was smashed and was still being crushed as Goht pressed more weight on it. The monster seemed to be pleased with the fact it made Link scream out all the more louder as his voice expressing his pain echoed into the night air, through even the constraints of the blizzard.

 

**_"You only prolong your suffering, boy. Unable to accept fate for what it is. I don't see why you are against death, considering you are the one who willingly chose it tonight!"_ **

 

Goht's snout blew hot air in Link's face as frozen tears stung his eyes from the pain he was in and the effort he was going through to stop himself from going over the side. This was impossible... he couldn't lose... He's never lost before... Never...!

 

**_"Goodbye, boy."_ **

 

Goht turned around, draping his tail over Link's left hand. The electric shock he felt made him once again cry out in pain. He heard Tatl shouting something at him, but to him through the pain, it was incoherent to him. Maybe a minute passed, maybe two... he felt his hands slipping bit by bit.

 

He couldn't... hang on...

 

The electric charge finally stopped... but it wasn't to Link's relief. He was only half aware of himself falling, Tatl screaming and chasing down after him. His eyes turned to look at the mechanical monster Goht who stared down, watching him plummet towards his death.

Then the pain succumbed him and the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intentionally short chapter because I didn't want to spoil anything by having the fight in the previous chapter. This is where the story will heavily start prying away from the events of the manga.
> 
> I shall spare a cliffhanger joke and say that I just hope this chapter has everyone on *edge*, instead.


End file.
